THE BIG BACK YARD

Back in the Time of Gold-Dust and of Guns,
Back when Lives were wagered on a Card,
Desperate Men, those hardened Mothers’ Sons
Strode forth to settle the Nation’s Big Back Yard.

Life was tough then. No Radio, TV
For Entertainment. No soft Feather-bed.
Most didn’t have a Pot in which to pee.
Each Day, they risked a Bullet in the Head.

No Books for them; no High-Falutin’ Prose,
No tender Sonnets ’neath a crescent Moon.
In search of Whiskey our brave Cowboy goes
With gold to pay the Whores in the Saloon.

That Hard-Knock Life was maybe not the best,
But Guys like that, they civilized the West.

[Composed in honor of Cowtown Pattie.]