Western Poetry

I WANT TO THANK POET, ROD NICHOLS, FOR WRITING FROM A COWBOY'S HEART.

EPIPHANY

Seems strange that a man could go all of his lifeNot seein' a thing that was thereTil a moment comes 'long, the first he has knownAnd it touches him deeply, I swear

The mornin' began like so many beforeA routine now old had begunThe cowboy would saddle then look to the cattlePrepared for the same early run

But this time was diff'rent, at least to the manThough the barn hadn't changed down the yearsBut the sun shinin' through seemed, somehow, brand newAnd it brought the old cowhand near tears

The hay bales remained as they had all alongThe saddle and tack in their placeYet the glow of the sun seemed a heaven-sent oneAnd it filled the whole barn with its grace

In a way that no poet could ever explainCame a melody, tuneless, but trueAs he gazed on this scene, like a man in a dreamA prayer seemed to come to him, too

Dear Father in heaven, I must've been blindTo pass without seein' so longYou've always been there, and me unawareHow could an old fool been so wrong?

Seems strange that a man could go all of his lifeNot seein' a thing that was thereTil a moment comes 'long, the first he has knownAnd it touches him deeply, I swear.

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SWEET SPIRIT

One stormy, Sunday afternoonNot many years agoWhile ridin' through a wooded glenI heard a tune I knowed

It carried on the Wind, I guessFrom where, I could not seeBut still I headed toward the soundBeyond this grove of trees

I reined my pony when I foundThe ruins of this old churchAbondoned now, but still perhapsThe answer to my search

The music stopped as I stepped downSo I stood there a bitAnd sure enough it started upI knowed the name of it

So I crept to a window, slowAnd looked inside a roomI couldn't see a single soulBut I could hear that tune

I heard an old piano playA smile was on my faceI heard my mother's fav'rite hymn"Sweet Spirit In This Place"

I never saw anuther soulI searched as best I couldIt might have been an angel, LordThat visited those woods

Though years have passed, I can't explainWhat happened on that dayDid I just want to think it soAnd no one really played?

Whatever is the truth at lastMy life is not the sameA sweet, sweet Spirit in that placeHas healed a faith once lame

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A PINPOINT OF LIGHT

A cowboy sat stirrin' a campfireAs sparks and smoke rose in the nightAlone on a prairie for hundreds of milesFrom heaven, a pinpoint of light

He listened to sounds on the night windSome close and now driftin' awayHe thought of the son he was missin' tonightAnd lowered his head, then, to pray

By a monitor station in NASAA young engineer looked at lightsReceived from a satellite's cam'raRecording the path of its flight

He heard the Director explainingTo the current Commander-In-Chief"The cam'ra is so sharply focusedIt can show a man's face in relief

The President looked at the imageThe Earth seemed all lit up by nightExcept for a fairly dark regionAnd one tiny pinpoint of light

"Zoom in on that one darkened sectionLet's see what your cam'ra can do"The engineer did as was orderedA cowboy, at prayer, came in view

"Just where is that image located?""A prairie down in the Southwest""Texas", affirmed the Director"Most likely a drifter's my guess"

"No, sir", said the stunned engineer, now"I don't know how I can explainThat cowboy, at prayer, is my fatherWhere we used to camp on that plain"

The President pondered a moment"It's more than a man could expectBetween two worlds of a cowboy and spaceThe Lord found a way to connect"

A cowboy sat stirrin' a campfireAs sparks and smoke rose in the nightAlone on a prairie for hundreds of milesBUT FROM HEAVEN, A PINPOINT OF LIGHT

God rides the plain with the cowboy, and sails the sea with the seaman.

He enters the penthouse with the wealthy, and dwells lovingly with the poor. We are all God's children, created for our individual purpose on this earth. Let us take the time from our hectic schedule to seek silence. Let us all, "Be still and KNOW that He is God."....Psalms 46:10