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Show Now, the light, it dawned very slowly. Old Strawb stood with saddle a-slip. His mouth was bleedin' slowly, He'd lost hide on his shoulder and hip. I felt mighty bad for that pony. I hadn't been treatin' him well. But I couldn't stand up to see to him, The day me and Strawberry fell. A great blow-fly descended upon me. He didn't know I could still feel. 'Pears I'd lit in his territory, And he'd come to stake claim to a meal. Oh, I hollered and I howled and I whimpered, And I pled with every word. Then I'd stop and I'd carefully listen, To the loudest silence I'd ever heard. I'd wait and I'd think and I'd wonder, Then I'd listen and then I'd call. And I'd vision the boys waitin' for me, At the troughs at the head of Nogul. Oh, I'd wish for that clear shinin' water. And I'd wish that old Strawb could have some. And I wondered if the boys could find me, And I'd wish, if they could, that they'd come. There was me and the horse and the blow-fly, None of us doing too well, When the light left and night came down on us, The day me and Strawberry fell. The stars came to the night up above me, To the fir trees and quakies there sighin'. And I gave up to the worst that could happen, And I thought a boy's thoughts of dyin'. Old Strawb, he stood there so near me. Those white stockings all covered with mud. My saddle cockeyed on his withers, And my bridle bit red with his blood. 74 Cowboy Poetry From Utah |