WHO ME A PIONEER? by Lin Floyd
I don’t like to go on long hikes
on hot dusty roads or drink
warm water out of dirty creeks.
I couldn’t have been a pioneer!
Day after day, dodging dangers
along the trail just wanting to stop
to rest for awhile or have a break
from nasty storms along the way.
Did their children really sing as they
walked and walked and walked? Didn’t
they ever complain or want to go home?
They’d left their homes to seek Zion.
Few had shoes so they walked barefoot.
That’s not fun with stickers and snakes.
Can you imagine? Annoying mosquitos,
dust and disease were daily challenges.
No, I ‘d never survived as a pioneer.
Eating meager food brought along like
cornmeal mush cooked over a primitive
campfire or living on rationed supplies.
But onward they went mile after mile.
Almost 1000 miles through desert, hills,
mountains, crossing rivers, watching
for hostile Indians or stampeding buffalos.
Arriving in the Great Salt Lake valley,
before them a vast desert filled with nothing,
no homes, gardens yet to be planted,
crickets waiting to devour crops.
It wasn’t easy, but with great faith
they followed their leader Brigham Young
to escape angry mobs’ persecutions.
Oh I’m thankful for my blessed pioneers.
