The Old Man and I - The Dream

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    The Old Man and I - The Dream

    Dec 21 10' revised Dec 17 11'
    The Old Man and I 
    The Dream
    The old man is sitting in his rocker on the front porch a one-eyed cattle dog laying beside him, a brand new straw cowboy hat perched awkwardly on his head. He’s wearing a clean faded red shirt with pearl snaps, Levis’ held up with a western belt and an All-Around Cowboy Laramie Jubilee Days 1954 belt buckle. His boots are clean except for the one with tobacco juice from him trying to spit over the porch railing. I walk up the steps the dog raises his head and dutifully barks the old man softly tells him to hush he does and drops his head back down on his front paws. I go into the kitchen hang my hat on the rack open a cabinet door and reach behind the coffee for the whiskey bottle. I put some ice in a glass and pour a drink. I walk back to the porch to sit in a rocker by the old man. We slowly rock. I sip my drink. He spits. We watch the sun go down. I think of tomorrow’s work. The old man thinks of yesterday.
    The Dream 
    it just doesn’t make sense
    when you’re feeling down like this
    I wish I was back fixin’ fence
    on Wagon Hound road
    where the wind blows
    making me mean and lean
    as I stretch wire hammer fencing nails into the wooden posts
    watch the hawks soar over head
    and listen to the magpies 
    me and the brown horse are out here everyday
    the everyday getting shorter
    than the day before
    feeling the wind get colder -
    I walk  the fence line splicing in here and there
    pounding in new staples with my fence pliers
    this is our routine the brown horse and I 
    he drags his reins and follows me down the fence line
    my partner - carrying my fencing tools and a little roll of wire
    stopping to chew on a blade of something now and then
    then catching up with me
    sometimes we just both stop and look at the sky
    or an antelope herd run by
    at lunch I take his saddle and bridal off
    he won’t go far we’ve done this together too long
    I wipe him down give him a little breathing room
    I unwrap a little bed roll use it for a pillow 
    take an afternoon nap the sun on my face
    welcoming the warm
    thinking about what has been and what’s left
    to be done
    I fall into a nice sleep 
    something nibbles on my boot
    the brown horse says let’s go
    it’s getting on in the afternoon
    I saddle him up
    pull out a treat from the saddlebags
    a cookie for me a piece of ‘cake’ for the brown 
    we do another mile or so as the sun is going down
    we head back to from where we came
    the brown picks it up stepping into a trot
    the barn and some warm food is at the end of the line
    hay and some oats for the brown
    one of Maxine’s hot evening meals  for me
    I start thinking about what it might be -
    we come to the rocky creek as the last light of day fades
    the brown  wades through and kicks into a gallop
    I let him make this spirited run to the warmth
    of the evening lights of the barn
    his day is almost done
    the brown slows down just before the old barn door
    I slide off as he is skidding down to a stop
    I have the barn door open lead him inside
    he clip clops to a manger and finds some fresh hay
    I unsaddle him rub him down 
    make sure the gate to the corral is open
    he’ll go out later and drink from the creek
    I put everything up and head for the house
    Maxine will have my food on the table and probably some kind of pie
    then to the bunkhouse to crawl between the warmth of the heavy old quilt
    and fresh clean sheets
    sleep finds me quickly -
    the dog barks I awake from my dream
    startled to find that I’m just an old man
    sitting in a rocking chair 
    staring at the tobacco stain on my boot
    The old man is sitting in his rocker on the front porch a one-eyed cattle dog laying beside him, a brand new straw cowboy hat perched awkwardly on his head. He’s wearing a clean faded red shirt with pearl snaps, Levis’ held up with a western belt and an All-Around Cowboy Laramie Jubilee Days 1954 belt buckle. His boots are clean except for the one with tobacco juice from him trying to spit over the porch railing. I walk up the steps the dog raises his head and dutifully barks the old man softly tells him to hush he does and drops his head back down on his front paws. I go into the kitchen hang my hat on the rack open a cabinet door and reach behind the coffee for the whiskey bottle. I put some ice in a glass and pour a drink. I walk back to the porch to sit in a rocker by the old man. We slowly rock. I sip my drink. He spits. We watch the sun go down. I think of tomorrow’s work. The old man thinks of yesterday.

    The Dream 
    it just doesn’t make sense
    when you’re feeling down like this
    I wish I was back fixin’ fence
    on Wagon Hound road
    where the wind blows
    making me mean and lean
    as I stretch wire hammer fencing nails into the wooden posts
    watch the hawks soar over head
    and listen to the magpies 
    me and the brown horse are out here everyday
    the everyday getting shorter
    than the day before
    feeling the wind get colder -
    I walk  the fence line splicing in here and there
    pounding in new staples with my fence pliers
    this is our routine the brown horse and I 
    he drags his reins and follows me down the fence line
    my partner - carrying my fencing tools and a little roll of wire
    stopping to chew on a blade of something now and then
    then catching up with me
    sometimes we just both stop and look at the sky
    or an antelope herd run by
    at lunch I take his saddle and bridal off
    he won’t go far we’ve done this together too long
    I wipe him down give him a little breathing room
    I unwrap a little bed roll use it for a pillow 
    take an afternoon nap the sun on my face
    welcoming the warm
    thinking about what has been and what’s left
    to be done
    I fall into a nice sleep 
    something nibbles on my boot
    the brown horse says let’s go
    it’s getting on in the afternoon
    I saddle him up
    pull out a treat from the saddlebags
    a cookie for me a piece of ‘cake’ for the brown 
    we do another mile or so as the sun is going down
    we head back to from where we came
    the brown picks it up stepping into a trot
    the barn and some warm food is at the end of the line
    hay and some oats for the brown
    one of Maxine’s hot evening meals  for me
    I start thinking about what it might be -
    we come to the rocky creek as the last light of day fades
    the brown  wades through and kicks into a gallop
    I let him make this spirited run to the warmth
    of the evening lights of the barn
    his day is almost done
    the brown slows down just before the old barn door
    I slide off as he is skidding down to a stop
    I have the barn door open lead him inside
    he clip clops to a manger and finds some fresh hay
    I unsaddle him rub him down 
    make sure the gate to the corral is open
    he’ll go out later and drink from the creek
    I put everything up and head for the house
    Maxine will have my food on the table and probably some kind of pie
    then to the bunkhouse to crawl between the warmth of the heavy old quilt
    and fresh clean sheets
    sleep finds me quickly -

    the dog barks I awake from my dream
    startled to find that I’m just an old man
    sitting in a rocking chair 
    staring at the tobacco stain on my boot

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    Whiskers commented on The Old Man and I - The Dream

    03-10-2012

    Hey Lane, sure happy to have checked back here on OP and looked you up to find this beautiful heartwarming gem of a write. I have missed these wholesome down home cowboy stories that you are so skilled at writing. This is a masterpiece my friend. An early Happy Easter to you. Have you written anymore inspirationally touching Christian poems like The Passion? If so, sure hope you post them. I've been over on www.Mary'sBridge.org for most of a year now, a site with lots of Christians as well as others. I think you would really like it. Why not come by and check it out? The MAIN page will give you a lot of information and clicking on READ/POST POETRY will take you to the poetry section. A better group of folks it would be hard to find. Sam Hyde invited me over there early last year. I'm still under "Whiskers" there too. This year one of the poets from Jamaica, Oren, has unofficially declared 2012 the year of nonsense, to lift our spirits with funny writings here and there. They have songwriters, prose writers like yourself posting great stories, funny jokes and just nonsensical funny writes, musicians, etc. Just click on MEMBERS after looking around and type in "Whiskers", click on, and drop me a comment if you get there. I really think you'd love this site. Blessings brother, your ol' OP friend Whiskers.

    train64

    03/10/2012

    Hey W: Glad you're doing well.. Thanks much for the comments. Haven't been on much. I'll check out your site..there is a new Wyoming travle mag - wyo-vore'..They are going to put 2 things in next issue.. The Old Man is one of them..Happy Trails - Lane

    Whiskers

    03/10/2012

    Congratulations, happy to hear your being published and getting the notoriety you so well deserve. I see Meatloaf hasn't added any writes, wonder how he's doing. Dropped him a line, haven't heard back yet. Blessings, Whiskers.

    Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does.

    Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) U.S. poet.

    train64’s Poems (87)

    Title Comments
    Title Comments
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    the road 2
    Observing 3
    Kathy 2
    the lonely mountain 3
    the picture 3
    southern thoughts 3
    she didn’t know when she got it 3
    The Bastard’s 4
    For the love of God 3
    all night drive 3
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    one of those days 2
    picking up Kemper at the nursery 3
    a dark mind 3
    a small intimacy circa early 70's 5
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    man are from Mars 4
    one more day 2
    Our Trails 1
    my wheel 4
    A Cowboy Elk and Dog Story 4
    Oscar 5
    heartache 4
    snooty people 5
    a small recollection 5
    the memory 6
    yesterday 3
    letter to jim 2
    when I stop myself 2
    haying - revisited 2
    cowboys 2
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    august to nebraska 3
    the canyon 2
    midnight in wyoming 3
    hard voiced ladies 2
    on a bus riding home 2
    observer 4
    the cabin 3
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    ADHD 6
    full wolf moon 4
    don't look back 2
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    if 6
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    days on the road 2
    the day i shot the antelope 2
    Short Version of A Book Length Epic Love Story Manuscript 2
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    the 60's 2
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    me and Lillie Mae 3
    perhaps the waves by Kalamai 2
    the wall 3
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    LancePaul and I 2
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    There Is 5
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    broken heart 2
    fire and photographs 1
    Tipi Rings (Tee Pee) 1
    Culture 1
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    somewhere between somewhere and somewhere 2
    Certain to Be A Country Classic, Maybe 1
    small pieces of life in a dream journey 2
    The only good Indian 1
    I wish I was Roy 1
    Fixin' Fence 2
    The Wind of Fall 1
    America 3
    Footprints of the Soul 4
    Remembering 1
    Edith's House 1
    Thoughts on Cowboys and Horses 3
    Haying: Me, and Bill and Wayne 2
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