.

.

Vittorio stole

the white man’s gold –

the white man’s gold,

his treasure.

.

But Vittorio stole

all of this gold;

and then, to throw in good measure,

he would take of their horse

and leave them, perforce,

to stew evenmore in displeasure.

.

And across the land,

of the mountains and sand,

Vittorio would hide all this treasure –

for gold was the privy only of gods,

silver was made for the man.

.

Now, down to this day

people still say

that there’s gold still buried aground.

.

So seekers will go,

through the heat or the snow,

metal detectors with sound,

and scour the hills,

in those low-lands and fields,

in the search for Vittorio’s gold.

.

But what be the odds

what he gave back to gods

will be taken or given again

to these scions of angry white man?

.

Vittorio’s gold,

so the story gets told,

will harden not soften man’s sin.

.

An uncle I knew,

and a step-father, too,

on crutches and oxygen tanks

would hobble about,

just go out to scout

for treasure,

their pleasure

a thanks.

.

Thanks to the chance

to follow – Romance!

to seek for the lost, hidden gold.

.

It’s a story, I’m told,

that never gets old,

Vittorio’s gold adds a trance.

.

.

.

©Marvin Loyd Welborn, 2012