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Cowboy Poetry and Western Verse
Those Five Cowboys
Raymond Maher
Those five cowboys shared the same bunkhouse at Crooked Creek Ranch
But each of them was one of a kind.
Sid was round and gruff and mostly moody.
The kid was thin and tall and suspiciously shy.
Jed was old and wrinkled and bent of back.
Fred was full of fun and laughter.
And Bob was slow to rise and extremely allergic to work.
We who knew those five cowboys best could add
Sid was prone to get as angry as a hornet real fast.
The kid was way too quiet - like a whipped dog.
Jed had travelled too many trails to count, even then.
Fred stopped being fun if he got to drinking.
And Bob was a poor loser and not above cheating.
When it came to the ranch work, the boss knew
Sid got frustrated and swearing at the first sign of any trouble.
The kid just did his share silently, no matter what.
Jed always said that he’d done it all before.
Fred was a solid, steady worker - not one to get rattled.
And Bob made himself - as scarce as possible when any job was to be done.
And For Those Five Cowboys Today -
Fred married the boss’s daughter and runs the Crooked Creek Ranch still.
The kid just up and quit after a payday and cleared right out of the territory.
Jed is alive still - but is in town now at the boarding house at the top of the hill.
And everyone knows, Sid got angry at Bob and shot him dead.
He is in jail for the rest of his life.
And Bob is buried in the town graveyard where there isn’t a lick of work to do.
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