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Cowboy Poetry
REQUIEM FOR AN OUTLAW
Robert C. Atkin
I'm headin' back today from a place far away
And I wonder what I will find
My heart is still 'cuz' just over the hill
Is a life I left behind
Will grandpa be there in that old rockin' chair ?
Dreamin' his dreams of the range
I look over yonder; I ride and I ponder
Why life; so dear; has to change
As a boy I was schemin' 'n' cowboy daydreamin'
Of buildin' a name in the west
I'd be a deadringer for an old gunslinger
Do it all 'cuz' I was the best
I hooked up in Cheyenne with the last outlaw band
With names only I can recall
No longer feared and our pictures appeared
On every jail and post office wall
We'd rustled some cattle outside of Ft. Battle
The posse was hot on our trail
In a cloud of dust, it was Mexico or bust
'N' them bullets came at us like hail
They shot “One-Eyed Jack” in the chest and the back
'N' Cherokee took one in the head
I did survive just barely alive
While my compadres lay diein' or dead
After days on the run; blistered by the sun
I found me a waterin' hole
I did what it takes to cure my aches
And searched the depths of my soul
My dreams and schemes were not what they seemed
And the “Wild West” was no longer that wild
I gazed to the skies and now realized
That my visions were that of a child
Those twenty years alone, I didn't go home
I sure missed my sweet mother's smile
And my brother and my dad were all that I had
But I lived all those years in exile
I came to my senses; it was time to mend fences
I missed the life that I had before
My head hangs in shame but I played the game
And now it's time to even the score
I'm back here today from a place far away
And I found what I wanted to find
My heart is still 'cuz' just over that hill
Are only remnants of what I left behind
Grandpa's not there not even his chair
My family's up in that heavenly range
I look over yonder; shed tears and ponder
Why I waited so long to change ?????
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