Bed of Familiar Dirt
Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:42 am
Bed of Familiar DirtTen miles off my ranch I was huntin’ deerI saw bear tracks I hadn’t seen in yearsThe biggest grizzly to roam these misty woodsTill Dad said he’d chased him off for goodNow fear gripped the air and dark wings caught the windEven crows perched in the pines knew it was himI tracked him long into sundown’s crimson blazePut him in my sites outside a lonely caveI almost fired but he could hardly crawlHe’d only returned to rest once and for allIn a bed of familiar dirtBack in the land of his birthOnce his spirit was a free n rawWild honey on his paws, fresh salmon in his jawsBut now all those things were worthWas a bed of familiar dirtI hauled a buck home ‘neath a bear-tooth moonCome morning I started some venison stewCos Dad was due at the ranchhouse at sixI hoped to break the ice with his fav’rite dishCos we’d come to blows back in his Bourbon daysWhen Mom was a well of tears over his ramblin’ waysBut he just darkened the door and shook my handHis temper worn down by time’s steady handsHis frail bones said he hadn’t come to fightHe was home to welcome the endless nightOn a bed of familiar dirtBack in the land of his birthOnce his spirit was so untamedCorn liquor and poker games cast shadows of his shameBut now all those days were worthWas a bed of familiar dirtWell, I stacked some stones outside that old caveTo give that grizzly a warm, peaceful graveand Dad n Mama share the same shady earthCos forgiveness is a bed of familiar dirt©2007 Robert George