Brokeback Mansion

Driving across Idaho on the Sacagawea Byway, I pass this bent, old homestead...barely supported by its fading chimney. I've passed it hundreds of times now and think of it as an old friend...a bare beginning to a new life in the west so long ago. It sits there, hollow eyes staring toward the highway; like an old man on his haunches...beckoning the passer-by to stop and chat awhile. On this lonely 2-lane road, no one ever does. Today, I gave him his due...stopped and listened for awhile.