Lewis And Clark Make History 24 Nov.1805 Poem by Laurence Overmire

Station Camp the place was called
Does anyone remember?
Did you ever read about it in school?
The place where the American ideal
Was for the first time made real.

Lewis and Clark and the rest of the Corps
Had spent a miserable brace of days
Trapped by wind and rain in
The aptly named "Dismal Nitch" and now
Relocated
A decision had to be made
Where to spend the winter—here on the
North shore of the mighty Columbia
Or there on the south.

Seeing as the choice was not at all
Clear
Why not put it to a vote
A vote? And who should be allowed
That vote?
In a world that separated man and woman
Black and white?

Was it not true that here on this
Distant shore, far from the comfort of
Bleary-eyed Civilization
There were only equals
All one
Dependent completely, a unified
Whole?

Together, all together
They would return once more:
York cast his ballot and
Sacagawea, too.

America took a giant step that day
Some might say a giant leap—

Long, long before the world
Turning upon itself
Would ever make right
The intractable wrong.

~ Laurence Overmire