Neutered Lands

 

Oh, we wear our hats tall

Proud conquerors of the land

Quick to prove our mettle

Lest someone question our frontier ways

 

Oh, yes we are descendants of

The fearless and brave

Adventuresome mountain men

Who forged a way through the dark, primal, forest

Hacked down

Cut down

Tilled under

All vestiges of the wild

 

Oh, we wear our rugged John Bridger badges

Professing a love for and understanding of the West

 

YET, let’s remember it was us who neutered the land

 

Parceled it out in neat little squares

Fine borders and edges around every piece

90 degrees

Straight lines

Barbwire defines

We blazed trails

Blasted roads

Damned and diverted rivers

Dissected mountains

Contrived labels and notations

Applied signs and directions

 

Anything wild and free

Buffalo

Wolves

Salmon

Grizzly Bears

Shot on site

Poisoned

Trapped

Muzzled and contained

Quickly shuttled back in the box

Managed

Manipulated

 

Oh, we wear our rugged machismo

On chests of bravado

Boisterous, bombastic, belittling

All can hear the cacophony chorus of fear

As we cower before true wildness

Truth be told

The wild west persona

Is a myth

Promogulated by dime store novels

Continuously clung to by vestiges of men

For we are incapable of operating in

The unpredictable

The unmanageable

Vast uncertainty of Wilderness

 

We sacrificed our own wilderness a long time ago

 

Enchanted by comfort

Enchanted by security

Enchanted by predictability

We neutered our souls

 

Welcome to the neutered lands