Infinite Disguise

Infinite Disguise

Blood bay earth sings under my pony's feet
As we lope out under blue roan skies
Marveling at how God is in this place,
Sage, cedar and sunset His infinite disguise.

A palomino sun trots gently over the horizon
Kissing cheeks whipped pink by the wind,
My catch twine taps a soft rhythm against my saddle
And spurs add a melody with no end.

Hip-cocked mares ponder my snorty colt,
Ears pitched forward to a new day and job at hand,
I've spoken my vows to this way of life--
A line-shack buckaroo making love to the land.

When I die, lay me next to my lover,
Plan dun prairie over my bones,
Turn my pony out, give my saddle to my son,
No need for fancy words or marble stones.

Dapple gray mountains loom overhead,
Capped by manes of blowing snow
Snarled by timber and treelines
That saw the death of the buffalo.

It's out here I'm always lost in thought,
Loping down my mind's own winding trails
Imagining days long gone by,
Before the land was scarred by wire and rails.

Sage glows purple in the morning light,
Dotted with new fallen dew
And wind through the grulla cottonwoods
Sings to a lonely buckaroo.

For a brief eternity, I can just be,
At home in the saddle and my own skin,
To leave my life of romance with the West
Would amount to a mortal sin.

'Cause no cow ever herded itself
To market or the grocery store.
Not many folks in the city
Know it really takes so much more.

It's me and my broncy paint pony,
Loping out under these blue roan skies,
Thanking the Maker we've lived our life
Of hide, horn, and hoof: God's infinite disguise.