Swagger-gait
(
a cowboy-song)
20-years
since my-shadow-graced this-town
Cool
summer-eve “Romance-Love” that-night
I-found
His
“quick-draw” fancy gun-twirl amazed them-all
Drew
a 5-shot circle with a dead-center bull’s eye on the-wall
“Dead-eye”
tossed a shot-glass into the air, quick draw, and drilled it-square
“Ooh’s!”
reverberated through the-crowd applauding shooting much better than-fair
Raucous-laughter
silence when came a swagger-gait that said “Don’t mess with-me!”
A
silver-spur jangle cadence-echoed loud as the white eyes took-in all there was
to-see
Buckskin-swagger
strode to the-bar and said “Whiskey!’ with a-scorn
A
raspy-voice like a rattler warning sounding wind-stirs dried-leave of-corn
“Quick-draw” came-up to-say, “You smell like
buffalo or Indian or goat
“Swagger
ignored the vacant-taunt while left-handed downed the amber-liquid remote
His
soft-leather single-holster tied down held a well-oiled worn six-gun
The
stranger turned to face the-boy and his demeanor showed no-fun
Boy!
I frequent where and when I-want; might have before been in this-town
Probably
knew your lovely-Mamma back-then if her-interest
I-found.”
Shocked,
the boy’s red-blood drained alabaster-pale full-moon white upon his face
Dead-silence
echoed in the room as “swagger”-smiled and held his-place
He
quick-grabbed and tossed 2 shot-glasses in the-air as lightning the-pair shattered
Three
slipped out the-back and four went-through the bat-wing doors quick scattered
“Swagger”
replaced the two-cartridges expedient just-spent
Twirled
the gun like diamond-sparkle as silent into the-holster-it-went
He
swaggered through the parting-crowd and tipped his-hat offering-trust
They
gathered at the windows and door to watch him ride-off in a clouds –of-dust
A
”Rebel”-yell echoed the last house in-town even though the-roar was late
Mamma
spied her errant-son coming-home recognizing his-familiar “swagger”-gait!
20-years
since my-shadow-graced this-town
Cool
summer-eve “Romance-Love” that-night
I-found
Amen!
