MOTHER LODE

“Sherman, have you seen my chips and salsa?
They were sitting by the door.
There’s no way I could’ve lost them ---
I just walked in from the store.”


It was many years before our station,
Beyond the desert way out west.
No hydrants, trucks, or young Dalmatians,
When dogs were dogs and pets were pets.

A master of the mountains,
In ’49 he staked his claim.
A handsome hulk of a hounddog,
Max the Miner was his name.


This Beagle bronze and burly
Dug down deep into the dirt,
And embarked upon his journey
To the middle of the earth.

Through a slab of sandstone slanted,
He pried a path into the planet,
Then ground a groove within the granite,
Where a powder pouch he planted.


He ran his wires under,
And hooked them to the caps.
He pushed down on the plunger,
And then a bang and boom and blast.

The earth began to bust
With a groan and gripe and heave,
And then a rumbling cloud of dust,
As that miner wheezed and sneezed.


As he rummaged through the rubble,
His nose began to twitch.
Then he took off down a tunnel
On his quest to strike it rich.

Behind some broken blocks and boulders,
That dog began to dig,
When came a glitter green and golden,
And his eyes got really big.


Emeralds! Rubies! Gold!
Like none he’d ever seen!
A Bonanza to behold!
It was beyond his wildest dreams!

So he clutched it in his claws,
And he stuck it in a box,
Then dug a hole with just his paws,
And stashed that box beneath some rocks.


Chief yelled, “Has anyone seen my fishing pole?”
And then came Sherman in a fit,
“That’s not the only thing they stole,
I can’t find my catcher’s mitt!”


Then he got back to his work,
To dig down deeper for some diamonds.
And he searched throughout the earth,
As he tried and tried to find them.

At last he spied some sparkling,
But then his fortune took a turn,
When there came a booming barking,
And his tummy turned and churned.


And then the jingling sound of justice
From behind some big black rocks.
Why, it was Sheriff Sam Augustus,
The law with big black spots!

“Max??? You’re supposed to be at nursery school!!!”

Then that tiny tri-toned miner
Turned and tucked his timid tail,
As that hound dog hopped behind him
And hauled him off to jail.


I woke up from my dream to find
That naughty pup was me,
A servant to my selfish mind,
Consumed by guilt and greed.

But then I found true treasure,
Within an empty tomb,
The kind you find in Heaven,
And my heart was born anew.


David J Allen
June 25, 2007


Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field. When a man discovered it, he buried it again. He was so delighted with it that he went away, sold everything he had, and bought that field.”


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