Hearfelt Verse Or Something Worse? (A Hillbilly Poet's Ode To Missouri Alert)

Los Angeles Times ^ | 02/19/05 | Stephanie Simon

[goldstategop]

MISSOURI - JUST WAITIN' FOR ME

As I travel the highways and byways, and as I tramp the hills and wade the streams in Missouri, I sometimes stop and look around me and I think, "All of this, just waitin' for me."

As I hunt and fish in Missouri, I remember all of the ambitious people who have restored, cultivated, and preserved all the wildlife, and it is just waitin' for me.

Each change of season brings something anew. In the fall, as in October when the forest leaves change to a blaze of a thousand colors, I say, "All of this, just waitin' for me."

I should hope when we, the older generation, turn the reins of Missouri over to a younger generation, that they too will work, educate, cultivate and preserve Missouri so their children can also, with pride and deep admiration, say, "All of this, just waitin' for me."

When I have come to my journey's end and have climbed the golden stairs and am standing face to face with the Master, may I be heard to proudly say, "Master, in this vast place called heaven, don't You have a little place like Missouri, just waitin' for me?"

[goldstategop]

A bill to make "Missouri - Just Waitin' For Me," the State Poem, has been introduced by a GOP lawmaker. A tribute to the beauty of Flyover Country.

Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News."

[SmithL]

Maybe it doesn't rhyme, but things could be worse. Can you imagine trying to rhyme "show me"?

[KiloLima]

The poem has not met with universal acclaim.

I guess I have to agree with the universe on this one. But it does raise a question: Did Missouri ever legalize hemp as a crop?

[goldstategop]

Democrats are anything anything Republicans are for. Rural Missouri huh? That's on the other side of the moon.

Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News."