Go West

Go West, young man,
While the world is vast and sweeping.
Start on the edge of the fathomless sea
And make a break for the horizon;
Count your fifty million paces
And then lie down in the earth.

There is no home here,
Unless you make one from the wilderness.
This is a land of hard lives and quiet deaths,
And no one sings.
They handed you a dream
As you set out this morning,
But you’re too shaken for miracles
And the desert is cold at night;
All the tinder in the world
Would not burn like this will.

Don’t judge a man by his world;
Judge him by how he lives in it.
Build a house on Thursday,
An orchard on Friday,
A steeple on Saturday
And a church on Sunday;
Paint it white like your parents did
And hope that things will be different
Because you were here.

Today you’re young forever
But I promise you tomorrow,
And your children will inherit your bones.
You’ll swear there was a time when
You walked a long way.
You might remember the sea, too.
But when you’re no longer sure that there’s
Anything left beyond the edge of the meadow,
You’ll go out in the morning
And you won’t come back.