Wish I'd Said That # 11

There are no short-term solutions to long-term problems,

Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, United States Army

A Lesson I Did Not Have to Learn

There is no feeling
When you stand
Within the cross hair.
In a distant 
Dark place
A killer measures
His breath
Preparing to take
Yours.

All your yesterdays 
Are of no consequence.
All your tomorrows
Are unimportant.
The only weight of time
Is that which it takes
For his bullet
To close upon your
Chest.

The sound of the report
Will arrive
After the projectile
Takes your life
And before your body
Falls to the ground.

But you will feel
Nothing.
From the cross hairs
To the kill
You feel
Nothing.

A Volunteer

Softly the wind skitters
Dry leaves
To their random beds.

The chill  air
Is as breath
Gently tugging at the hem
Of my coat
And I inhale deeply
Joining my senses
To the quiet
Melody of morning.

The moan of a distant train
Joins the symphony
Mixing with a barking dog
The laughter of children
A block away
At their school bus stop
And the sigh of tires
From the main boulevard. 

High overhead a jet hurries
South
Unzipping the sky
In a crystalline  hush
And bright contrail.

I suppose I too
Am a volunteer
In this opus
No one but I hear
As my shoe soles
Tap the concrete
On my path into
This bright new day.

Wish I'd Said That # 10......

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.

~ Rudyard Kipling

As the Day Draws Near

He kicked the mud off his boots
On the steps, by the door.
Didn’t matter what I’d ask him
I knew what he came for.

In a minute he stood before me

And the others began to scatter.
Like I said, there was no talking.
This time it didn’t matter.

In the low light, I turned to face him.

He had the furtive smile of a rat
He had the dominance of a bull
And the agility of a cat.

He nodded slowly at me

Wanting me to make my play.
It did not matter who drew first
At the end of the day.

Slowly, I drew back my duster

And nudged the loop off the hammer.
This was all about a woman
I never loved, and she didn't matter.

Like thunder, he fired his hog-leg

My shot went wide and high.
I caught his ball in my chest
And I knew I must die.

To all of you dusty riders

Who drink hard, and play with women
There is a day of comeuppance
Sure as hell, when you’re sinnin’.

Some kid took my Remington.

Another kid got my hat.
A drunk fool took my money.
Can you see now where I’m at?

They planted my body down by the river

In a grove of apple trees.
I’ll lay here till the resurrection
When I will stand before the God that sees.

Will he have a six shooter?

How will an avenging God appear?
Will it be a fair fight?
I tremble as the Day draws near.

The Lower 48

My 'ol pa called me, and he sat me down.
He said, "Son, I've watched you, all over town.
You never seem to know what to do
So's I've writ some things to encourage you.

A man's gotta make his own self-made way.
It's the price of fame you'll need to pay.
Never drink your likker from another man's cup
Or he may slit your ribs and cut you up.

Son, always lay your hat upon the crown
Or your luck'll run out, and you'll run down.
Never strike your match upon your fly
Or you'll scorch your pecker and you could die.

Don't rent no hoss, son; buy your own ride
Always know a good place where you can hide.
When you go to kiss a girl, son, kiss her good.
Don't be no boy. Play the man, like you should.

Give the boss who pays you a good day's work.
Don't let me hear that you play the shirk.
If you're gonna drink fire, boy, swaller it all.
Then when you take a piss, stay in your own stall.

Don't let them banks give you no damn card
Or you're gonna crash, and come down hard.
Don't worry about no fancy, effeminate stuff.
A good soft bed is plenty enough.

Don't play the dandy with no neat-trimmed beard.
Let it grow large, or you'll jus' look weird.
If you're gonna spit, son, do it wild
Or those that see it'll think you're a child.

When you have your own boy, name it for me
So's you'll never forget me, don't you see?
You're my son, and I'm kindly affectioned.
Leastwise it seems so, I truly reckon.

At that point, pa stuffed a five in my pocket
And gave me a tin of wrenches, with metric sockets.
After all these years, I hope I made pa proud
'Cuz I'm the best damn alcoholic, cowboy, 
Mechanic, vagrant, love 'em and leave 'em SOB
In the Lower 48.
Now, ain't that great?

When the Loop's Off the Hammer*

I watched him walk in
And stride up to the bar.
He was just a fool kid
And I wore a star.

He ordered a whiskey
But choked at its sting.
He was just a fool kid
Who didn't know a thing.

He stood there a minute
Then he turned to face me.
Said he came here with his gun
To make outlaw history.

I said, "Son, you don't want this.
Turn now and leave."
While I starred at his fingers
At the right cuff of his sleeve.

The kid thumbed away the loop
That was wrapped 'round his hammer.
That .45 was free to pull
And that fool kid did not stammer.

"You're going to die today, lawman."
And he went for his gun.
Then I shot him dead
Like he was no one.

Let this be a lesson.
I'm telling you so.
When the loop's off the hammer 
There's no place to go.


*The "loop" is a small leather thong that secures a gun  to the holster, so as to prevent an accidental draw from a holster.

No Good, Nasty Dirty Dealer*

I'd lied and cheated, dealin' cards
I was workin' the room pert hard.
I took their bills in tens and twenties
And had stuffed my pockets full and plenty.

The cards all came from the bottom and middle
I dealt 'em slick while a drunk picked his fiddle.
They sat the whole night drinkin' rye
While I raised the stakes near to the sky.

By four in the mornin' I'd cleaned 'em out
When some drunken logger raised up a shout.
I made for the door, duckin' their led 
Barely managing to keep my body and  head.

They were swearin', cussin' and throwin' fire
Doing all they could, their money to acquire.
They chased me up and they chased me down
And they chased me all through that gol'dern town.

All I wished to do was get as far as I may
Jus' hopin' to live and cheat another day.
How I got away I sure don' know
But I'm here to say, sweet lord, it's so.

I know they chased me far as they could
Halfway into some dark, forbidding wood.
But it wasn't a total, entire route.
Cuz' the other half I was runnin' out!


*My apologies to those reading in another language. The poem is written in an English style that may not translate well.

Custer's Corporal*

Well, no man never asked my starch
When we set off on our westward march.
And no winsome lass never asked me why
When I set off for to win, or die.

No Cheyenne lance never pierced my skin
So I tried it once, and then again.
I heeled my spur when the Captain yelled "Charge!"
And I was kilt right there, beside my Sarge.

They laid me down and then scalped my hair
Then they left me dead and cold and bare.
But the handsome Colonel, he died there too
And the history they teach you jus' ain't true.

Well, the stories all brag of Custer's glory
But the unvarnished truth is another story.
It was all Lakota on that day
Until they struck tent and rode away.

So, hear me clear, all'a you bold boys
And quit all'a your brave, naive noise.
Every soldier boy that goes to war
Will get what war has in store.

Enjoy your boyhood kickin' rocks 'n cans
And don't rush off to be a man.
War ain't no lark, and it ain't no game.
And if you do come home you won't be the same.

I took six arrows in my side
And a tomahawk split my skull open wide.
Their squaws pierced with needles, my young ears
In hopes in the afterlife I could not hear.

Boys, you may keep your banners and flags.
From where I sit, there's no cause to brag.
I can no more hear that bugle call.
They kilt us one, and they kilt us all.

Just a few feet above my bones
The army set me up a stone.
Now, don't you think that's petty pay
For the dreadful pain I bore that day?



*My regards to Corb Lund, whose song "I Want to be in the Cavalry" was in my mind as I wrote this poem.

Like the Lark

I have stretched my heart
Before you.
I have bared my soul
Entire.
Yet I still know not how
To charm you.
I know not what you
Require.

I have shouted at
The noon hour.
I have whispered in the
Dark.
I have shrieked alongside the eagle.
I have wooed you like the
Lark.

I now prostrate  myself
Before you.
I no longer stand upon my
Feet.
You may gather my heart
Like cordwood.
You may winnow my soul like
Wheat.

I grow weary, my love

Of searching.
I no longer know how to
Seek.
All ever I was or may be
I give you.
I am so tired and so very
Weak.

Oh, rise up my love
In the morning!
Awaken, my song
In the night!
Arise, my true heart
Come unto me!
Awaken thy feet to
Take flight!
  

Anywhere

Storms howl angry in the cities.
Winds moan across the plains.
Storms churn over oceans
But breezes sigh softly in the rains.

The sun broils asphalt in the cities.
It burns the grasses of the plains.
Its rays sparkle on the oceans
But the sun shies away from rains.

Darkness dwells in alleys of the cities.
Midnight settles on the plains.
The dark’s translucent on the oceans
But it falls gently with the rains.

I will seek your pathways in the cities.
I will build you a shelter on the plains.
I will swim to you across oceans
And I will cover you in the rains.

There is no geography to loving.
There is no distance that’s too far.
There is no weather that’s too violent.
I will go anywhere you are.

Bleeding Light

Bleeding Light 

Long on the vine
As promise
For tomorrow’s glass
Blood red
Or mint-clear
Chilled or warm
It holds its pledge.

Grapes will burst
Ripe, sweet
Rich with life.
Bruised
Crushed
Fermenting
Wine for tomorrow
Will fill oaken barrels
With spangled slanting suns.

Press these rays into bleeding light
Sleeping in casks
Hidden in cellars
Dark and deep.

Wait for bleak seasons
When hope sleeps
Then tap the barrel
Fill emerald bottles
And drink.

Let pregnant time give birth
To savored suns
Long waiting for such a thirst as this.

Fire and Flash

Fire and Flash

If you’ll throw
A blanket on the ground
And lay back in the night
The entire Milky Way
Will blaze and sparkle
For you.

It’ll dance and shimmer
On a scale so massive
You’ll go a full sixty seconds
Forgetting to breathe.

Look around.

The dewy grass
Begins to twinkle
In bright
Phosphorescence
As fireflies burst
In golden splashes
Of light
Challenging the sky
To a duel of color.

Stars in the sky
And flashes in the grass
Beg a response to their
Dazzle.

It’s then you realize
Your heart is on fire
And you answer creation
By your own
Ruddy blush.

There is a remedy
In night skies
Fiery grasses
And heart glow.

It’s blazing all around.