Along the Sunset Trail

An illustrated poem from the past

Another poem, and again, D. Jason Fleming put me onto this one. He introduced me to Berton Braley, and I have come to place Braley in the ranks of poets like Robert Service and Edgar Guest. He stirs the heart and makes you feel braver to face the world, when you read his poems. For that alone, I would love them.

The Sunset Trail

Out along the sunset trail
Life was never dull or stale;
You could allus take a chance
Find adventure an’ romance,
Where the mountains climbed so far
Knockin’ up agin’ a star!
Seems as if I had to go
When the past is callin’ so,
Got to answer to the hail
From the pals I used to know
Out along the sunset trail!

Out along the sunset trail
Life was something new an’ glad,
There weren’t no distinctions pale,
Good was good an’ bad was bad—
(Bad was extry double bad!)
There was women there an’ men
Like we'll never see again,
Swaggerin’ an’ quick an’ proud,
Loyal, laughin’, rough, an’ loud;
Buckin’ any game they played
Like they thought they couldn’t fail;
They weren’t pikers er afraid,
Out along the sunset trail!

Out along the sunset trail
Life was swift an’ blood was red.
Now them flamin’ days is dead,
Things is quiet like an’ pale.
Yet I reckon if it came
To a p'int where there was need
They could play the same old game,
Play it with the same old speed;
They could fight an’ work an’ love
Like the folk I’m singin’ of;
Women still are women—brave,
Kind, an’ tender to the grave,
Men are big an’ true an’—male!
Out along the sunset trail!

— Berton Braley
1912-02-01

The Popular Magazine, Vol. 23, number 2