Front:
CALIFORNIA GREETINGS
155
Camel
SO
22
TID
Gone West..
I'm tired of sweating, milling crowds;
I'm tired of being clawed,
And pushed and shoved and booted around,
Of getting mauled and pawed.
I've spent my life, ten lives I know,
Fighting for room to breathe;
And squirming in and dodging out
Of throngs that surge and seethe.
I'm getting old, I've spent my time,
My last wish is that I
Somehow reach that new born West
Where at least there's room to die.
I'm worn from a life of narrow escapes,
From ducking in and out.
I'm frayed by the clanging and banging of bells
That keep me jumping about.
I'm sick to death of all these things,
My nerves are about to break
From having to fight and scramble and push
For every breath I take.
My day is done -- only one plea, Lord,
My last-- please gratify.
Get this worn, old frame out West
Where at least there's room to die.
ZAN
RI
1939
Back:
MOTHER LOBE PUBLISHERS
SAN DE LAUP
Barstow, of borax fame and familiarly known as Death
Valley Junction, had been a wagon train depot for
twenty years before 1878. That year when the first
train rolled into the station, it was met by hospital
attendants. An elderly New Yorker had taken ill enroute but had
insisted upon completing his journey. When he succumbed three
days later, these verses were found in his own handwriting. Bitter
irony that Death Valley itself should lie just East; since we have
chosen to call the lyric "Gone West."
--From California's Greetings by W. E. Dimon
Copyright 1939, Mother Lode Publishers, San Diego
Reproduction in whole or in part expressly forbidden
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CALIFORNIA
GREETINGS
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