Cowboy Poetry: “Old Friends” by Doug Velisek
This poem describes the relationship between a man and his horse.
May 7, 2016
His back, it’s stiff but his head is clear
As he heads out for the field
The three year olds they beckon him
They want their morning meal
He loads the cart it rolls and bounces
Across the frozen ground
The smell of hayledge cuts the air
John Deere makes the loudest sound
The girls file in the lot
stepping gingerly under foot
The land all white except the trail
It’s dark and looks like soot
He counts his cattle as he pulls up
His count’s on the short side
Feed the feed and saddle up
It’s time to take a ride
He walks his steed through the place
where hooves have left their marks
Then he mounts his old friend
An adventure as it starts
Over the knoll he rides Old Jake
Across the creek they slid
He thinks of many times they’ve done this
Jake’s older than his kid
He tugs Jake left but Jake fades right
He scowls at his old man
Then looks in Jake’s direction
And see’s the old horses plan
For up ahead behind a bush
A tail it stands out straight
It’s 263 she’s due this week
He hopes he’s not too late
He gives Old Jake a little nudge
Jake picks it up a bit
263 her head flies up
Lets not throw her in a fit
They circle out a little wide
She calms down and turns her back
Around a tree they travel now
It’s then he spies the calf
He see’s that it’s not moving
There’s the sack over its head
As he dismounts he says a prayer
“Lord I hope that he’s not dead”
As the cowboy makes a move to clear its nose
The mom lowers her head
Needs stop now, he makes a fake
And goes for it instead
This may have been a big mistake
But he wants to clear that nose
He’ll catch the sack and pull it quick
But mom she’s very close
His life does not flash before his eyes
though he fears that he’ll be rolled
In his younger days he’d slip away
But now he’s too dammed old
He’s sure that she has got him now
He moved as fast as his body could
He makes a tree, there is no cow
Just Old Jake where she once stood
She’s mad but goes to licking the babe
It shakes it’s head and kicks
The little critters breathing now
And the cowboys got no broken sticks
As he mounts Old Jake he pats his neck,
then heads back to the barn again
He knows that Jake will get extra feed today
And thanks God for his old friend
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