This is another "cowboy poem" by John R. Yaws. (That Leroy is somethin' else when he starts to think...) - poetheart 08/06/01
I walked by Jack and Leroy,
Out by the breakin' pen...
They wuz leanin' watchin' sunset
As the day come to an end.
Leroy wuz a thinkin'
He said, "You know somethin', Jack?
I'd rather be a puncher
than to drive a Cadillac".
Now Jack just couldn't let it lay
He had to call his hand-
Cause they'd been saddle partners
On more than this here brand.
"There's lots a things that I don't know
And that's a mortal fact...
But this I do, and that's that you-
Ain't drove no Cadillac".
"A lot you know", says Leroy-
"I'll tell you...lemme see?
It must of been in sixty-
We met in sixty three...
I was breakin' broncs near Sheffield-
You know? Fort Stockton way?
I had this distant cousin
From Californiay.
He wuz comin' back from Houston
And stopped off at the ranch
To get to meet some kinfolks
As yet an unknown branch.
And fine!?! by gosh! that Coup de Ville
Was somethin' to behold!
Them leather seats a purty red
The wire spoked wheels wuz gold!
He thought I'd like to try her out-
Now, you know I cain't drive,
But me turn down a chance like that?
I couldn't!!! Man alive!
I wuz livin' out Old Ninety-
When it wuz two lane still-
When all them truckers dropped a gear
To go down Sheffield Hill.
I did real good where it was straight
My heart with pride wuz filled-
I didn't even see the sign
That warned about the hill!
A gradual left, a sharper right-
And Goodness Sakes Alive!!!
That Caddie went from forty
To doing Ninety five!
Around and down, down and around
Old cousin havin' fits-
they say the wreck ain't near as bad
Dependin' what you hits...
I leveled out a hundred per
Tore up a mile of fence-
Side swiped my boss just out of town
He thought I'd lost my sense...
The Cadillac, the worse for wear
And cousin headed west...
If he had folks he hadn't met
He thought it for the best.
To leave the case just as it wuz
And not to meet the rest".
Now, Jack just looked at Leroy
Then headed for the gate...
Said, "Time we got some shuteye-
The hour's gettin' late".
They started in the bunkhouse-
I still was in the yard...
When they gripped hands,
Jack said, "Goodnight,
I'm glad you're still my pard".
by John R. Yaws