The Cowboy Way

[good4somethingbum]

The Cowboy WayWell, the ceiling fans in that Albuquerque barWere stirrin’ up Winston ashes and sawdust on the floorSome old rodeo clown looked around his jug of boozeShed a tear, slammed a shot and then told me the newsI left a tip and lit out for Sante Fealone with my thoughts cos that’s the cowboy waySure I’d cussed him to the skies, when he cost me first prizeStomped my Stetson and broke my collar boneRarely mentioned it of course, but I respected that old horseMore than lots of people that I’ve knownBut all good things must go, yeah, come what mayAnd facing up to that is the cowboy wayHeadin’ down a darkened highway in my one-eyed FordI recalled the old coin pony outside the grocery storeHow a few kids got hurt and one day it was just goneOut back with the trash was the first bronc I’d ridden onMem’ries are horses feeding on sadness like hayAnd riding them at night is the cowboy wayWranglers and old drinkin’ pals, told me that his last corralWas out in a meadow by some mesquiteI fought so hard not to cry, and my baby blues stayed dryTill I found his marker in some weedsThen like clovers sprouting through hardened clayTears flowed from my tough heart in the cowboy wayGuess I’m not the only one, that horse hurt when he was youngOthers had been out there to say goodbyesaddle tramps from honky tonks, knew that the hooves of a broncWould be hurt by streets of gold in the skyThere was a pile of horseshoes where he layI left one and tipped my hat cos that’s the cowboy way©2008 Robert George