Hwy 94 skirts the side of a mountain on top of which you don't want to be afoot, lost & out of water.
(Photo copyright by Adrienne Rise)
Footprint Forty-One
So I backtracked
on that
son of a
son of a roooooooad ~
Upon which I
become
so
Edgar Allan Poe-ed ~
That I yearned
for
the kiss of
my Annabel Lee ~
But mostly I yearned
for
the sight of
a tree ~
Under which I
could sit in shade
and die
and be freeeeeee ~
Of thee almighty
sun's
happy
weeny roast ~
alas!
I spied
the post ~
The post
that
marked
ye olde trail ~
That wound
around
hill
n' dale ~
Ye olde trail
that
I'd
done lost ~
Ye olde trail
that now
up
n' crossed ~
This
God
forsaken
roooooooad ~
Hippitty
hoppitty
went I
like a toooooooad ~
Like a toad
like a rabbit
like a bouncing
snail ~
Like Hop-o-long Cassidy
escaped
from
jail ~
Hippitty
skippitty
stepped
me down the trail...
Footprint Forty-Two
So
whadduh
yuh
think?
Is
there
a
link ~
'Tween the voice
in my head and
the trail
finally found?
Or am I
jus'
foolin'
around?
Where do voices
like
that
come from?
Dippitty-do-dah
de
dum
dum ~
Let's just
let
the candle
burn ~
And skippitty-do to
the mission
the mission
of No Return...
Footprint Forty-Three
Each
and
every
tramp ~
Had
the world's
best
camp ~
Somewhere
'long
the
way ~
Of which he
had
somethin'
to say ~
Under
a bridge
or in
a stranded boxcar ~
Beside
the Colorado
or behind
a bar ~
With other fruit-pickin'
'bo's
in an orchard
by n' byyyyyyy ~
Somewhere
anywhere
under
the starry skyyyyyyy ~
There was
es-
tablished the
world's best camp ~
Where
the world's
most honorable
tramp ~
Got drunk
with
his friends
or stoned ~
Or just sat
there
boiling coffee
all alone ~
Or with his gal
built
a leak proof
hooch ~
With a tin fireplace
before which
they'd
hug n' smooch ~
But that which
was
truly
best ~
I mean
better than
all
the rest ~
That camp
from which all the
others
had somethin' to learn ~
Was the mission
the hole-y mole-y mission
in the desert of
No Return...
Footprint 44
Go ahead
Old Tramp
tell me
all about it!
How you found a
mule with wings
and a human face
n' caught it ~
In Deep Desert
when you
were lost n'
almost dead ~
You flew this laughin'
jokin' critter
to the edge of the
nearest town, you said ~
Which was one
hundred
miles
away ~
Ah
well
a
day!
They found you
ass-up n' naked
with your head buried
in the ground ~
They plucked
yer head out n'
yer eyes, you said,
were spinnin' all around ~
You're
quite
a
guy ~
Tell
me
anudder
lie ~
I like that one
about
the comet in the
Deep Desert sky ~
How
when it
sped
by ~
Flying
so
close
to the ground ~
It lit yer
campfire
n' then
turned around ~
And lit yer
cig-
ar-
ette tooooooo ~
And
this
was
when youuuuuuu ~
Were without
a match
a-shiverin'
in a cold night dew ~
Go ahead
Old Tramp
tell me anudder one
that ain't no way true!
Footprint Fourty-Five
The wanna-be
monk
sighed
tenderly ~
Gazed upon
thee
abused toilet
and sincerely ~
Thanked
Our Lord
for
this opportunity ~
To scrub it
clean
un-
to Eternity ~
There
at
the rowdy howdy
mission of ~
He did it
with
elbow grease
and Love ~
He kept
the
raggedy tramp
latrinnnnnnne ~
Shine-
y
and
glowing halo cleannnnnnn!
Mission of No Return