Like It or Not
Me and the gals
Was a-drinkin’ our fill
At the old buckaroo bar
Up there on the hill
We was being pretty quiet
An doin’ real well
When the door came open
An things went to hell.
An old drunk cowboy
Stepped through the door
He staggered an stumbled
Then fell on the floor
He picked himself up
An kinda looked all around
He staggered to the bar
An he sat himself down
He was little thin
An bent and old
Hard twisted and gray
An his eyes they were cold
His wranglers were dirty
But his white shirt was clean
He has a look about him
You could almost call mean
Well, the crease in his hat
It was crooked and worn
An the toes of his boots
Was an old cow’s horn
He didn’t want to talk
That was plain to show
But the Ol’ buckaroo knew
What I wanted to know
So I brought him a beer
To bide me time
I was wanting stories
To write me a rhyme
When he finally got talking
On the beer he was allowed
Yeah, the old buckaroo
He was still mighty proud
He said, “I rumbled and rambled
An crashed through life
I never had the courage
To take me a wife.”
He said, “Life is hard
It’s tough at its best
Then they lay down
For that ever long rest.”
He talked about women
Puppies and babies
The if’s an’s and buts
An all the maybes
He told is plain
Simple and true
The dirty tough life
Of an old buckaroo
“Well, the days and nights
Are lonely you know
About ropin’ brandin; an’
No place to go
About drinkin’ and fightin’
And ride’em hard
About fate he called luck
In the turn of a card
About dust, rain, and snow
An’ the long endless nights
About old blues and old Rony
And the tough old bull fights
About the she-devil wind
The lord had it blow
He even talked about things
That he didn’t know
About his old Ford pickup
So faithful and true
About the junk in the back
An’ the women he’d knew
About friends long gone
His buckaroo pals
An’ a couple more times
He mentions the gals
About the camp up Jarbridge
The one South of Bend
What it would be like
When he come to the end
About the changes he’d saw
Through his long life
An’ you could tell he regretted
Not takin’ a wife
About the good old days
An’ now long they’d been gone
They way things were now,
How could they go on?
Well, the story was easy
I’d heard it you bet
But the last thing he told me
I couldn't forget
He told is so softly
With a tear in his eye
He said, “Kid,
Life’s A Bitch
An’ Then You Just Die!”
Kendra Tyler
May 15, 2004
Copyright©2004
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