Nashville Christmas& 1779


Scots-Irish borderers, devout, austere
With Anglo-Saxons made their rugged route
West from Watauga, in the chilliest year
Marked in history. Five hundred miles out
Across Kentucky , down to Tanase
They trekked with horses, cattle, sheep.
James Robertson led forth this odyssey
That halted opposite where bluffs of steep
And craggy cedar-guarded limestone, rose
Above the Cumberland& a river iced and white,
That Christmas Day when ever rivers froze.
And when the cliff-side landmark loomed in sight
The cavalcade traversed the water s frigid span.
Then, in their lean-to s. praised the Son of Man.
12-19-87

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