Cowboy Lonesome!

 (Each of my books begins with a poem serving as outline to the tale---Enjoy!)

Cowboy Lonesome

 

Civil War’s end, myriad men rode out of Texas, west

Cowboys traversed Chisholm Trail, some of the best

 

Manifest Destiny demanded wild-adventure be fed

Pushed five million cattle to yonder Kansas-railhead

 

Young men were they all, by forty, too old

Chuck-cooks kept, for the stories they told

 

No commitment to tie down an independent-breed

An individual-man true to his right-valued creed

 

Leather holstered iron swiftly tested his worth

Many fast-gun egos laid-permanent ’neath-earth

 

A fine horse and hard labor for thirty a month-found

A thousand miles of wind to a howling coy-ote sound

 

White alkali dust turned to thick soup by rains

Romantic-era decaying with the advent of trains

 

Wonder if that tamale-senorita down Pecos-way did wait

Promised her true, “I’ll be back!” For sure now, I’m late

 

That’s quite a wild city, the sign read: “Abilene”

“Hoorah!” the danger-town, toughest I’ve seen

 

It sure went quick, my hard-slaved three-month pay

Painted-pretties, watered-whiskey; to jail, a guest-stay

 

Back on the trail, a worn-saddle poor-humble home

No walls to shelter; a roof, the cold night star-dome

 

I’ve loved and been loved; dawn calls a new day

Saddle ole Smokey, call the dog and just ride away

 

Awfully difficult it is to confess any grievous-sin

Likely I’ll transgress back to where I’ve already been

 

Amen!

(Poem prelude to Rondo Slade book coming October 2022)