“We will be known forever,

By the tracks we leave.”

A Native American Proverb

Whenever I travel the back roads

I always seek out nature and history

And remnants of ancient civilizations

My entire life, have always fascinated me

Many of the indigenous peoples we call ‘savages’

Had advanced civilizations long before Columbus

And far too much of their very ancient knowledge

Has now been so very sadly lost, to every one of us

On this trip, as I traveled along the Mississippi

I made it a point to visit ancient native mounds

Like so many of the cultures, now long gone

Their story, at least for me, still truly astounds

These very ancient inhabitants of these mound cities

Traded goods from Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico

But their ancient cities very mysteriously disappeared

Long before the first Europeans, to these places did go

The painting above depicts a very industrious Mound City Market

Where many goods and foods and medicines were traded every day

But most of these ancient, mysterious, Mound Cities were abandoned

By the year 1200 A.D., according to archaeological evidence found today

We will never know why so many of these very ancient cities disappeared

Or what knowledge these ancient traders, travelers, and astronomers had

But every time that I visit one of these mysterious, long gone, civilization sites

I wonder if one day, our modern civilization, might suddenly vanish, just like that

And perhaps, one day in Mother Earth’s not so distant future

Our modern civilization might be called ‘primitive and savage’

By very advanced and enlightened travelers from a distant galaxy

Who will visit this planet, to decide if it’s still a worthy place to live

We, too, will be known forever,

By the tracks we leave.

©2008, Mr. Ed