Rancho Reality

This seemed to take a long time to come together. (I know, some of you think I should have given it more time) A lot of what I write is shaded by the fact that I make my living in an office with occasional trips to the West. My feelings about the cowboy spring from movies and classic television shows. That's what this is all about.

Rancho Reality

I expected to see the Marlboro man;
tall in the saddle, broad shouldered and tan.
I looked for Tom Selleck or someone like that
wearing chaps and spurs and a big Stetson hat.
Instead, there’s a spindly old guy in a truck
who looks worn out and weary and down on his luck.

I hoped for “The Duke” ridin’ hard in his prime
not a grizzled old coot who is long past his time.
But, this geezer explained, “When you live on the land
the hard work will wear down the heartiest man.
The shortage of water and the high price of hay
turns what hair you have left to gunmetal grey”.

I longed for the movie, the myth and the dream
but reality’s different and not nearly as clean.
There’s dust in my dinner plate, sand in my shorts
and gooey stuff sprays from my horse when it snorts.
The cattle are smelly, my saddle is hard,
I got stuff on my boots when I walked through the yard.

I wonder if God feels the same about me?
Disappointed I’m not everything I could be.
Do the things that I do ever give God the blues?
Am I like the stuff on the soul of his shoes?
What would God do in His infinite grace?
Oh, yeah, he sent Jesus to die in my place.

Jeff Hildebrandt © 2008