History Etched

Over ninety years ago, a sunny day in fall,

That the chisel first touched the rock wall,

Cutting into the granite, hard and gray,

Four figures were carved, lofty and tall

The triumph of democracy it was to show

But to the Lakota Sioux it was a blow,

For gold was discovered in their land,

And their territory they had to forgo.

Fourteen years it took; over night and day,

As with perseverance he slaved away,

Despite the harsh weather or heavy snow,

Continued till there was no money to pay.

Sixty metres, the sculptures spanned,

Together, they make a spectacle grand,

Birth, growth, development, and preservation,

That is what the four of them stand.

Historical Event - October 4, 1927 - when the carving work begins by sculptor Gutzon Borglum on the face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota. It stopped on October 31, 1941.