0 Once Upon a Time

Woe to thee old city on the hill, your glory days have passed.
Woe to thee old city of my youth, my childhood home is gone.

Butte was a copper mining town, the richest hill on earth.
It prospered on the backs of men
who labored underground.

They'd gather at the gallus frames each day to catch a ride
on a cage that took them down into
the earth's most inner core,

where they'd dig and pick the rock filled walls to find the valued copper ore,
releasing it from its age-old home with skill
and high explosives.

When the veins of high grade ore dried up and disappeared,
an open pit was dug quite deep
to claim the low grade lode.

At first the pit was welcomed as a way to save the city,
and keep the miners working,
providing for their kin.

But the open pit kept growing, devouring the land around
that vast mining operation,
swallowing half the town,

including all the old East Side, while not so rich or halcyon,
the neighborhood where I was raised
in a small house on an alley.

Now my childhood habitat is but a wispy memory,
the dreams and grand imaginings of a life lived
Once Upon a Time.

--Philip L., 78