Call Me Free

All the boots in a circle round the fire

Looked liked the numbers on a clock.

There was Fred, Jim, Bo and Reese

And the man they all called “Doc”.


“Whachu doin out here anyways Doc?”

Asked a cowboy across the flames.

“You got college, and you talk real good,

You coulda made ya’self a name”.


Doc blew the steam from his coffee cup

Then two fingered up his hat.

He looked up at the cowboy, then into the fire

And said “ Yes, I’ve had all that.”


“I’ve had jobs, titles, secretaries and a desk.

I’ve given orders, and I had respect.

I had a wife for a lot of my life.

Had a big house, and a belly load of debt.”


“But, all those things became a prison cell

When love rode off one day.

It never came back, and I decided to pack

And just be on my way.”


“There is nothing that can free a man

Who’s trapped in a life he doesn’t choose.

Not all the gadgets in a big box store,

Nor all the bottles of booze.”


“One day I left all and headed west.

I met a rancher who needed a hand.

I promised I’d learn all I could

If I could just live with the cattle and the land.”


“The rest is history, as they say

And tonight I’m on this drive.

Oh, I’ve had my share of livin,’

Just not enough of being alive.”


“Sometimes I’m bone tired and weary

But, it’s the best kind of tired.

I’ve spent the day free and outdoors,

And at night I’m around the fire.”


He looked up at the canopy of stars,

As far as the eye could see.

“Make a name for myself?” he said to the men.

"Just call me ‘Doc”, and call me 'free.' "

K.L. Dennie July 2012

Headin' Home

The cowboy crossed a leg on the saddle

While his horse drank from the creek.

Then he cast an eye

To the evening sky

And rubbed his hand on his whiskered cheek.


He listened to the water as it rushed

Past limb and sand and stone.

The tree limbs were bare,

And a chill in the air

Meant summer had come and gone.


Soon snow would come to the plains

And wind would drift it high.

And he’d take his turn

To make the stove burn

On the cold long winter nights.


But, today he was movin' stock

He placed his foot in the stirrup again.

And nudged the cows along

Toward their winter home

The thought of supper made him grin.


He turned up his collar, closed the gate,

Mounted, and headed back alone.

With hot food on a plate and

A girl were awaitin’.

He started at a trot for home.