Carbon's History - A poem by Ronald J. Rabenold

My Carbon County:
Give me a moment,
In your time and place,
Let me cross,
Your millions of years,
To see
The great gorge cut,
Let me see Sleeping Bear,
In her rested fold,
The push, the pressure, the hardened coal,
Give that to me,
Harden my role.

Send me on,
A father’s mission, to slow a son’s greed.
Let me cradle the truth for the Lenni Lenape.
Send me on
With Onoko, to the Hemlock and Oak,
Let me see Ginter’s find,
And behold Josiah’s dream,
Let me feel the buzz,
The Yankee energy,
When Foster and Packer,
Transformed the age for thee.

Give me the punch, from the Dry Mason’s hand,
Give me my peg on the Miner’s board.
Let me in and give me my role,
But let me out, to take in the light,
Keep me above and away,
Beyond the fray, beyond the Rope,
Beyond the Day the just betrayed.
Give me throaty shrills,
The squeal of steam atop the hill.
High up, looking down the plane,
Give me the sights, the speeds, the thrills.
Give me my mule,
To guide me through the lock,
Let me touch this land, this water, this rock.

Send me on
With the passion of Audubon,
The tact of Albright and
The back of the Mason.
Then I too can push mountains
And broaden horizons.
Give me
The wits of the coal miner’s wife,
To be wise and true.
Give me
The hands of the Breaker Boy,
To pick what’s best for you.

Give me
The dauntlessness of Boyle,
The inventiveness, the vision of White.
Then send me on a mission,
With the zeal of Zinzendorf,
Let me
Walk in the peace, of a Quaker’s son,
Then all our hopes can be one,
Send me on,
Send me on.

Now is my time and
You are my place.
Give me the vision you dreamed for me.
Let me stand on its pillar
So that I can see:

My Carbon County,
May I awaken,
Your dream for thee.