Remix American Wild West Poem by Terence George Craddock (Spectral Images and Images Of Light)

there was a time
in American history
when horse thieves
were shot or hung

robber man who stole
your horse had stolen
your life your livelihood
your means of travel

survival you were left
as good as dead without
your horse in country
where horseback was life

there was a time
in American history
when cattle rustlers
were shot or hung

stealing beef on sly hoof
hot irons changing brands
fast rustled up retribution
justice from a rope hung

there was a time
in American history
when cruel range wars
were fought with guns

settlers driven off farmland
starved their crops ruined
their homes stolen burned
cattle grazed homesteaders

land cattle barons prospered
water rights grazing rights
unfenced unowned range land
farmers ranchers fought wars

frontier justice lynchings
local residents fought
fast gunmen hired bought
no weak law range wars

old west is time dead gone
rustlers free range modern
well executed wars oiled
Saddham to entrapment lead

attacks rich oil wells Kuwait
plan Bush deceived brilliant
Iraq Afghanistan Libya start
cruel foreign oil range wars

modern politicians hands clean
land cattle baron range rustlers
reside at plush 1600 Pennsylvania
Avenue NW stateless Washington

living immunity from range hits
octopus arms free range world
survival horseless you were left
for dead without your livelihood

there was a time
in American history
when horse thieves
were shot or hung


Copyright © Terence George Craddock