View from the wagon - July, 1858

"We take turns walking," is Pa's rule,
"Unless a body is ill." meaning dead.
I like to look out the back of the wagon
To where we’ve been, and never again.

Knowing where I’ve been feels better
Than not knowing where I’m going.
The sun bakes the distant grasses so
I can see a rainbow of hills in the glow.

“It looks hot,” Ma will say, 
“I believe we’ve come fifteen miles today.”
And, I can see every one of them here
Out back till the grasses disappear.

I walk in the tracks of the wagon wheels
That bend the grass down smooth.
And I turn to look every now and then 
To where we’ve been, and never again.