Robert Mitchum  wrote and starred in a movie way back in the 1950s that spoke to the ways of moonshiners and their dispute with the Revenue men.  It touched on many topics that each could be made their own poems.

Thunder Road
by Michael Romani

With a wink and a smile
He'd drive that last mile
Down the old Thunder Road
Where moonshine is sold

He'd gone to fight for God and country
Now that he was back, he lived for family
In the hard scrapple of the back woods
Honest men lived by their coulds and shoulds

Despite all the obstacles in the way
Each man pushed for his family's better day
Hand to mouth, they eked out existence
Pushing hard with storied persistence 

Every man working hard for his living
In a world too often cold and unforgiving
The revenuers only thinks in terms of tax
Not on their boots riding hard on the people's backs

The kind of place where under the trees
All the lonely hearts cry soft into the breeze
And whippoorwills sing out their own tunes
While lovers gaze up on the same ole moon

Until the fateful day of driving down Thunder Road
There comes an end to the tale that must be told
About a man who lived with honor and by his own code
A remnant from another time that had become old

(c) November 13, 2018  Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved