In Lament Of The Cowboy

A scant twenty years,
grieved a century or more

Poetically perfect,
in spirit and lore

A man and his horse,
alone on the range

The cattle his instruments,
and music to play

Civil War veterans and blacks
from the South

Through dust and dark clouds,
snowy blizzards that mount

Together they battled,
in concert they fought

Each unto himself,
life’s harmony caught

The hardship and death,
to him worth the price

Pushing always ahead,
a stranger to fright

The only thing telling,
to be left at the end

Was the legend he gave us
—and the message it sends

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)