Once green and firm,
she danced,
on the boughs edge.
Whirling and dipping,
through the breezes,
of changing seasons.
She basked,
in hot summer suns.
Rejoicing in the adulation,
heaped upon her,
as she selfishly,
provided shade,
and shelter
to all who sought it.
Asking for nothing,
needing no one.
Autumn days,
stroked her ego,
into maturity.
transforming her,
into the envy of
artists and poets,
sages and prophets,
wise men and clerics.
But the chill of winter’s age,
dried and wrinkled her,
she fell,
dying.
Until all that remains,
of her once majestic existence,
is a final crumbling gasp,
under the heels of,
marching boots.
Tag: life
A Drive Around My Hometown
The house I was born in,
used to stand right here.
I was just one more hungry child
destined to grow old and die.
Right here in this schoolyard,
I learned life’s valuable lessons.
The more you have,
the more you get,
the more you want.
Here’s the church,
that taught me,
no one cared,
about lost souls.
Only how much,
is in the collection,
plate.
This is the highway,
where I found out,
if I went too far.
I would never,
make it back.
No matter how hard I try
~ Cowboy Life Ain’t Dead ~
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
~ Learning to Cowboy…
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
~ For Free…
Only a dime a dozen for these broken dreams
a free wooden nickel with each pack of lies
a jar of hoodwinks, flimflams and befuzzles
a bucket of lost hope and a box of how time flies
a Brooklyn bridge, a few penniless thoughts
next to some wasted time and that mirror and smoke
some dirt-cheap hooks, lines and sinkers
a bunch of fake smiles and a couple pigs in a poke
some bamboozles and a few hornswoggles
a pile of ashes from some bridges I’ve burned
a sows ear, some silver thread and a gold needle
a silk purse filled with the lessons I never could learn
Jerry Brotherton 