A Cowboy's Tale

A COWBOY’S TALE

©2009 Robert C Burnham

There’s a hill far away

I’m going to climb someday

To find my wayward soul

There’s a lady in red

She thought me dead

And left me a long time ago

It happened one night

In the wake of a gunfight

On the floor, a strange pair of shoes

I then spent many years

Crying in all my beers

Until I realized I just had the blues

‘Shaman Dave’ said to me

“Now you can set yourself free”

As he held a rattlesnake on my heart

Then he cut it up nice

Sautéed and all diced

I ate, but it tasted so tart

Early the next morning

With little or no warning

I was picked up and tossed on a train

Just a hobo sacrificed

For a little bread and some rice

Hoping I would come clean in the rain

I wound up in Mobile

Just a ghost who couldn’t feel

With no knowledge on getting around

A deputy in black

With his baton in my back

Picked me up and took me down

I laid there in the dark

Outside a stray dog barked

When I heard the thunder of men on hoof

Then just like Jesse James

These men without names

Blasted a hole in the jailhouse roof

They thought it was the bank

As all their hearts sank

When the sheriff yelled “Stop, or I’ll shoot”

I wasn’t waiting around

I was running when I hit the ground

Stopped by the bank and grabbed me some loot

I headed west before dawn’s light

Keeping off trails - staying out of sight

Until I spied a pretty young lass

She was bathing in the creek

Looking tender and so weak

I decided I just had to make a pass

But she drew down on me

Fastest draw I’ve ever seen

Giggling she said her name was Dawn

She had killed forty men

I thought she was 'bout to kill again

But all of a sudden we started getting along

We headed south ‘cross the border

Where she gave me an order

To go and find her a big diamond ring

I left her sitting there

Until from her sight I disappeared

Thinking about the troubles a woman can bring

But I returned the next day

With a shining ring on display

Seeing it - filled her with laughter

Now I have learned to cook and clean

Change little diapers and help wean

While she lives happily ever after

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