Finally got back around to it ...

[RollingThunder]

Hey ya'll. Been a mighty long while since this forum saw my keyboard's shadow. Been a lot going on. Repaired my saddle (tore it all the way down and back up again), did some riding, did some artworkin', made a Full Bates Rig for my Aussie Stock Saddle, and finally got into writin' some more.

Here's the latest if ya'll don't mind me borin' ya! Gots more on the way, but this-here rough draft oughtta hold ya!

When I’m Gone (Mustang of War) …

© Roland Millington 2008, All Rights Reserved

Will the prairie remember me, when I’m gone?
Will she dream of the hoofbeats, I ran to her song?
Will she recall the tune she blew through my mane?
Will she suddenly know, nothing will be the same?

I hear her slow, soft call, the rustle of switchgrass,
I feel her dewy sweet kisses on my fetlocks as I pass.
I wish to see her stars and hear the cacophonic night
Once more before my breed fades from her sight.

I’ll remember her sun blazing on my back
As I proudly charged her plains and grass whirled in a stack
That reached her arms up to say to me, “Slow!”
“Rejoice in this time, it will pass soon, you know.”

If I had only known how wise she was then
I’d have quietly stood and listened intently when
She sang her sweet chorus of cricket and brook
And open my eyes to drink in a deep look.

I see her today, yet not as before,
Through a wood slat railway fence and the roar
Of the great iron beast that comes to take me
And tear me from home, without hearing my plea.

“Leave me here! Let me stay! My kind belongs here.”
It listens not to my voice, understands not my fear.
Cares not for my needs, hastens not my warn
Weeps not for me, for to weep is to mourn

The loss of something you once had
A hoofbeat, a heartbeat, for good or for bad
I am bound to be wrenched, a wretched soul from this place.
I’ll never again feel its peace on my face.

My mother, my maiden, my prairie so wide
Yet not so much as to hold place to hide.
With rope, with muscle, with fear I am driven
A halter, a disgrace, a brand I am given.

Remember me prairie, hold me for your part.
Heed my cries, with an unfettered heart
Recall your tune and sing it once more,
For your long lost son, your mustang of war.

[litl rooster]

Very good.