Tag: poem

~ Slim…

On By Jerry BrothertonIn cowboy, PoetryLeave a comment

Slim was an old Texas cowboy
had traveled cross this country some
Said he roamed the range all his life
and to ‘Montana he had come

Cause down south it’s hard to figure
what caused so much stink and shoutin
Wanted to see for he got old
this big sky, prairies and mountains

He’d heard about Little Bighorn
where Custer fought them Indians
The Great Continental Divide
and secret Gates of the Mountains

There’s this here place called Glacier Park
with its Going to the Sun Road
By being that close to heaven
could it really be all that cold

Then there’s them three rivers where the
Missouri waters gits her start
And that Russell fella who paints
all them pictures of western art

Sure would like to see Yellowstone
they say that’s quite a sight to see
Where water goes a shootin out
the ground hotter ‘n ole Hades

Not to mention all them critters
like wolves, moose, elk and grizzly bear
Goats that can climb straight up a cliff
perch like a dab blamed eagle there

You folks got this here Chinese wall
a sight that I just gotta see
Thousand foot tall in the center
of a million acres of trees

Got some mountain canyons that are
bigger ‘n most cities around
Herds of wild horses runnin cross
the land make a thunderous sound

At night they say a trillion stars
show thousands of Buffalo graze
They move along so graceful like
through warm and sunny summer days

I said let me warn ya ole Slim
we got things here you won’t believe
But once you lay your eyes on them
you sure ain’t gonna want to leave

Pert near twenty winters have gone
since Slim came to Rockin Bar J
I placed bitterroot on his grave
when we laid him to rest today

Slim might have been born in Texas
and that is quite all right by me
He died a Montana cowboy
in this place where he chose to be

This story, Slim and the Rockin’ Bar J are fragments of this ‘wannabee cowboys’ imagination.

~ After the storm…

On By Jerry BrothertonIn cowboy, Poetry7 Comments

That storm had my heart beating
as I rode herd through the night
All that rumbling of thunder
and savage flashes of light

The darkness felt uneasy
as drenching rain fell in shrouds
And with each flash of lightning
I saw thick black boiling clouds

Well the storm has passed on by
and morning drifts o’er the plain
I sit here in my saddle
tired and damp from last night’s rain

Gazing across this landscape
where everything’s been washed clean
There’s a mist on the mountains
so heavy they can’t be seen

The cattle graze peacefully
day rises over the hills
Under this low hanging sky
my world sits silent and still

From between my horses ears
in this gray light of the day
I see all of God’s glory
so I bow my head to pray

To thank God for seeing fit
to bring me through that dark night
Letting me witness once more
his majestic morning light

Sometimes it makes me wonder
how Heaven could truly be
anything more glorious
than this valley is to me

~ Them out-of-staters…

On By Jerry BrothertonIn cowboy, Poetry6 Comments

All them foreigners that move here
they always tell me that they’ve come
a searching for open spaces
cause cities made ’em feel so numb

They came out here to Montana
to a place where they could feel free
to bulldoze out the pristine streams
and to chop down the Aspen trees

To tear away the lodge pole pine
ponderosas and tamarack
to dig away the mountain side
and cram their houses back to back

They flatten out the rolling hills
to build a shopping mall or two
Built all them buildings so damn tall
their blocking out the mountain view

They’ve taken all the wildflowers
and laid down asphalt and cement
put solar panels on their roofs
’cause they save the environment

Should a deer wander into town
they want the law to do the deed
cause having wild critters around
is something that they just don’t need

They say that they feel better now
with all the beauty they can see
by sitting in their sealed off rooms
watchin’ nature shows on TV

~ Living the cowboy ways…

On By Jerry BrothertonIn cowboy, PoetryLeave a comment

It was pretty late in September
and I was over the Billings way
I was riding fence for Freddie White
on the west end of Rockin Bar J

Well night time can fall pretty early
come along bout that time of the year
I started me up a little fire
and was cleaning up some of my gear

That’s when I heard a “Whoo-up in camp”
softly floating over the pine trees
At first I thought it was ole Freddie
come a ridin’ out to shoot the breeze

“Come on in” I yelled right back to him
My hand sittin firmly on my gun
When in rides this old bearded cowboy
Looked to be bout a hundred and one

Well he said his name to be Johnson
So with that I passed him my name too
Asked him if he’d like to sit a spell
Maybe share a little of my stew

For I had gauged him up to be a
descent and right honest man you see
Cause he seemed to hold himself just right
and by the soft way he spoke to me

So after we tossed down our bedrolls
and we had hunkered down near the flames
That’s when Johnson pulled his red eye flask
we started toasting old cowboy names

Those names like Billy Brooks, Bose Ikard
Goodnight, Conrad Kohrs and Otto Franc
Olly Loving, John Chisum and more
Each name said, we tipped the flask and drank

As all the old cowboys tend to do
we reminisced bout the olden days
about all the things we used to do
and living the good cowpuncher’s ways

How these here youngsters nowadays ain’t
got no clue bout how things used to be
When a man could go from here to there
live and ride the range completely free

Johnson had seen just fifteen summers
when he started his first cattle drive
sixty more winters have passed him by
he said his luck had kept him alive

For him riding herd out on the range
is the only life he’s ever knowed
He said he would never trade that way
for no diamonds, jewels or gold

Well just about dawn the next morning
After we shook hands and parted ways
I knew that I too would never leave
behind me, these good old cowboy days

This story, Johnson, Freddie Keys and the Rocking Bar J Ranch are all fictitious.

A Bird in the Tree

On By Jerry BrothertonIn Poetry, Rhyming7 Comments


Twas a bird in the tree across the street
staring at me from the uppermost limb
It seemed he was intently watching me
Perhaps as curious of me as I of him

I think he was squawking profanities
though I wasn’t sure of his tweets and hoots
It appeared that he might be the jealous sort
envious of me in my fur coat and warm boots

I’m pretty sure it was envy he felt
from the sad look I could see on his face
For he had naught but feathers to warm him
and no way to escape winter’s embrace

We both decided it was time to leave
as I could feel the day getting colder
I stood to leave and felt his parting gift
splatter across my new coat’s shoulder