Roads and Reminiscences

Dedicated to my Dad’s vision, and the Negro League
Baseball Players

Throughout the plains and the valleys, I came to hear
the song of the courageous pioneers,
to hear it sung so very far and wide,
over the vast countryside.

At times they paused to pray or sigh.
They always faced a chance to die.
Each remembering a home left behind the trail
atop an eastward hill or sunlit dale.

Yet as morning sun lit the day,
still they paved the way
over land fierce, vast, and free
until a nation stretched from sea to sea.

We should not have disdain for those
who may be wrongfully opposed,
nor should we ever cease to hear
songs of courageous pioneers,
who justly pass to those who tarry,
goals to grasp and carry.

Linda S. Mata