Cowboy Psalms Poem by Ron Secoy

I don’t know in history who spoke the first poem
Maybe God, when He said, “Let there be light”
Reckon that was it and the part about
Separating the day from the night

Since the beginning of the spoken word
A lot of poetry has came down the trail
From sonnets to epics and airy odes
Poems that sing and some that wail

Now I don’t know where the cowboy fits in
With the likes of Shakespeare, Sandburg or Frost
That’s Robert not Lane to set the record straight
But who knows what rhymes he could have tossed

Not sure why the Lord inspired the cowboy
To trying his luck at this literary art
Coupling meter, time and wording
Phrases from the mind and the heart

It seems natural for someone with a perspective
To want to spin stories and make up rhyme
About the places and people he has seen
And note his place in the vastness of time

Cowboy poetize ‘bout most any subject
From cow patties to stampedes or fencin’
He’ll talk about his horse and his sweetie
Times he rode the bull and times he didn’t

Cowography and ode to a cactus flower
Bad men, bad women and bad weather
Good days, good dogs and good country
Arguments about which saddles are better

Some cowpokes ain’t got nothing better to do
Than to start gathering some loose words
And herding them into just the right corral
Like the slickest thing you’ve ever heard

Roping those verbs, articles and nouns
Dragging them up into their proper space
Sorting and penning with a keen eye
Until they fit into just the right place

My favorites are full of detail and color
And they roll off the lips just like a song
Next to the Good Book, guess you could say
I am quite partial to those cowboy psalms