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Open Poetry #10
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John Yaws
Senior Member
since 1999-10-09
Posts 860
Texas

0 posted 2000-10-03 03:30 PM



J. W. Dowd was a cowboy-
Known as an all around hand-
He’d plied his trade from the Wyoming plains-
Clear down to the South Padre sands.

He’d won the bronc riding in Cheyenne-
In Tucson, he once took the Gold-
But both of these feats were far in the past,
At last the bold cowboy grew old.

He’d sit on the porch with the youngsters-
They’d yarn, and each night without fail…
His mind would go back, down a long twisting track,
To a time on the old Chisholm Trail.

He’d tell of the stampedes from lightning-
Of outrunning wild, prairie fires…
Of the girls waiting for them in Ellsworth,
Of memories, dreams, and desires.

He’d tell them of riding the grub-line-
And he told of the Hole-in-the-Wall…
Of how he had known, the best of the West-
And, one by one, he’d seen them fall.

Hickock, he’d known up in Kansas-
Hardin, in old San Antone-
He’d run across Tighlman in Fort Smith, one time-
Now all the old-timers were gone.

They found him one morning still sleeping-
When the sun was ablaze in the sky…
Sometime in his dreams his old heart ceased to beat,
And at last the old timer did die.

So they buried him South of the bunkhouse-
The sweet prairie loam was his shroud…
You ask why I sing? It’s a tribute I’d bring-
To the memory of J. W. Dowd.

  


"You come into this life crying, while the world rejoices. Your goal in life should be to live it in such a fashion, as to leave this world rejoicing,

© Copyright 2000 John R. Yaws - All Rights Reserved
Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
1 posted 2000-10-03 03:47 PM


I am very familiar with all of this, and you've put it to line in a comfortable way...I enjoyed it Sir, thank you!

Karilea
When you want to be loved, look within...KRJ


Denise
Moderator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-08-22
Posts 22648

2 posted 2000-10-03 07:42 PM


Thanks for sharing this, John! Very enjoyable read!

Denise

Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA
3 posted 2000-10-03 07:48 PM


Excellent presentation, gunslinger...
Butterflies_dont_cry
Member Elite
since 2000-03-06
Posts 3733
Michigan
4 posted 2000-10-03 09:25 PM


Another one to add to my favorites told
around the campfire by you GS.  Thank you~

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