Category: cowboy

~ The Dance…

On By Jerry BrothertonIn cowboy, Poetry1 Comment

The world is filled with some fancy dancers
who’ll come a prancing through your bedroom door
They’ll do a pretty good job of makin
you think they’re spot on what you’re lookin for

But they’ll hem and haw and skirt the edges
never quite proving what they claim to be
They’ll never give you any straight answers
when you tell em just what it is you need

The words will roll cross their tongues so easy
they’ll try to hide behind a white toothed lie
Watch ‘em primp and prune their fancy feathers
while promising you the moon in the sky

Just keep on looking for the kind of man
who’s only promise is a life of love
And asks for nothing but to share that life
under a wide Montana sky above

You’ll know for sure my dear when you’ve found him
the right cowboy will treat you like he should
never take a single breath without you
and no one will care for you like he would

So I’ll toss my hat into the circle
though I can never promise you the world
I can make darn sure to never hurt you
if you’ll only be this cowboy’s cowgirl

~ Cowboy Life Ain’t Dead ~

On By Jerry BrothertonIn cowboy, Poetry2 Comments

They said the cowboy way of living
has withered away and is long gone
Least that’s what I seen in the movies
and heard in all them old country songs

They tell me bout how them olden days
and the way cowboy’s life used to be
Is now just faded pages in books
of folklore and revered history

So I headed out to Montana
so that maybe I might understand
just how them old cowboys could make it
livin their life out there on the land

Well lo and behold I could hardly
believe the things these eyes of mine saw
To my surprise you see, all them old
cowboy ways weren’t gone after all

They are still out cowpokin’ just like
time for them has never had to change
Still a ropin, ridin and brandin
and pushing them cows across the range

Still searching for a few straying cows
from rugged canyons, mountains and streams
A rounding them all together for
dehorning and branding so it seems

Still bustin all them onry ole broncs
that’s as wild as the hot prairie wind
Out riding alone along miles of
them fences looking for breaks to mend

Still singing all those old cowboy songs
while gathered around the campfire light
A telling their tall tales of glory
underneath a bright rustlers moon light

Still feeling the scorching summer’s sun
that burns the grass and dries out the sage
Giving everything they can muster
for a few beans and almost no wage

Still working hard and loving harder
the way that cowboys have always done
I know I will ride alongside them
because a cowboy I have become

The great life of the western cowboy
that everyone thought was dead and gone
May have had its place in history
but I say the best is yet to come

~ Jim…

On By Jerry BrothertonIn cowboy, Poetry4 Comments

He’d wake up sorta rough around the edges
then he’d pull in his teeth from out of the glass
yawn then rub his eyes with the back of his hands
scratch his belly for a while and then his ass

After a time you would look around the house
and wonder where in the world old Jim had gone
Out the window you’d see him headed to the
outhouse wearin’ nought but red flannel long johns

He’d have a newspaper tucked under his arm
though everyone knew he couldn’t read a bit
Said he liked to wipe his ass on the headlines
they was already filled to the brim with shit

He’d make it back to the house just in time for
breakfast and barely said a word while we ate
We headed out for chores before the sun rose
cause fifteen minutes early to Jim is late

Now us boys would work until plum soaked with sweat
while Jim just shuffled around a bit you see
Guess we probably couldn’t ask for much more
seeing as how Jim was just past eighty three

Like I said before, Jim never did talk much
when he did it would be best that you take heed
Because he never put in his two cents worth
lest it was something that you was gonna need

He taught me that standing my ground for what’s right
is the way the cowboy life has always been
You should never raise your hand to a woman
and stealing from others is a definite sin

If’n you say that you’ll be doing a job
than you better do it the best that you can
Cause slacking away is the devil’s right hand
you can bet you’ll never be trusted again

Well growing up into manhood on the ranch
I owe almost everything I learned to him
Now as I ride each day out past where he lays
I stop and say a prayer for my friend Jim

~ Dreaming Again…

On By Jerry BrothertonIn cowboy, Poetry7 Comments


On dreary winter days when angels weep
I pull a memory from those I keep
and dream of dancing in the summer’s sun

As winter’s cold devours each brown blade
her blanket of snow covers hill and glade
I dream of dancing in the summer’s sun

When leafless limbs get whipped and tossed
I look through my window burdened with frost
and dream of dancing in the summer’s sun

~ Learning to Cowboy…

On By Jerry BrothertonIn cowboy, Poetry6 Comments

He grew one of them bushy mustaches
like Sam Elliot wears under his nose
Bought him some fancy duds from Cabela’s
sure looked spiffy in his Buckaroo clothes

Alligator skin boots and silver spurs
thought he looked like all them real cowboys did
Added chaps and ten gallon Stetson hat
and called himself the Kansas City Kid

He’d got him a Palomino horse that
he didn’t have a darn clue how to ride
And a beat up old red Ford pickup truck
with a blue eyed dog to be by his side

He packed up and headed to Montana
from his home in the woods of Missouri
Said he was fixin to be a cowboy
and the best anyone would ever see

He rattled that old truck to Montana
it conked out right there in front of the ranch
He said he wanted to learn to cowboy
if the boss seen fit to give him a chance

Well the boss brought him out to the bunkhouse
told all us cowboys that his name was Tim
Said he wants to be a cowboy you see
so show him the ropes and take care of him

I asked him what he knew about branding
could he stick an iron to a cow’s rump
He said he would probably be alright
if I’d be kind enough to show him once

Well can you at least ride that horse of yours
to cut out a heifer or throw your rope
That boy looked at me straight into my eyes
Gave me a slight grin then shook his head “nope”

Think you might be able to break a bronc
that has spent its whole life out running wild
“Well I was in a real mean sheep bustin
back in Missouri when I was a child”

What about fixin up supper vittles
I might be able to use me a cook
“Pretty sure I can do a decent meal
as long as I have some kinda cookbook”

Well I got me these here bulls need cutting
and a short stretch of fence that you could mend
Can’t be that hard to cut a bull he says
if you would just show me how to begin

That was twenty years ago boss hired Tim
cause there was something in him he could see
Tim spent all that time learning to cowboy
and became the best there would ever be