For Rosasharn - A poem inspired by Steinbeck

A poem inspired by one of my favourite books: The Grapes of Wrath and by the work of Woody Guthrie and Bruce Springsteen

For Rosasharn

Wheels tumbling West
Scratching over dry land
Driven directly by dreams of dignity
Leaving trails of bitter dust

Some roots just won't pull up
and Grandpa had to lay down
It's too far over the blood-red mesas
The dimming sun is looking tired

The highway's only half alive
Punctured souls are heading back
The promised land is a mirage
Now who knows which way to turn

The machine of change is grinding fast
Store prices far from labour's fruit
And now the insult of fallow land
New power thrives when men compete

The preacher finds a calling true
Authentic lives of soil and growth
But guns and money won't stand down
So he founds a life of standing up

Where dreams of hope are dying cold
Children cry and men fight for food
Tom Joad's ghost is always there
In the purer power of hands turned to help another
Or the sharing of a mother's milk

Woody Guthrie's "Ballad of Tom Joad"
Bruce Springsteen's "Ghost of Tom Joad" feat. Tom Morello