A Cowboy can't cry

Loss

The cattle are hidden in
a thicket, along a flint hill’s gully,
and the rain rolls across the Kansas night,
thunder pumping, rolling
deep, throaty, hollow bellows.

Gods breathe and clouds slap.
Rocks and roots charge through
the narrows ripping at the
thickets.

Thunder’s rolling rhythm broken by
the calves panicked screams,
flashing, the flood quenches the
Kansas night.


Undercut or buried, the cattle are gone.
The distance carries their breath away.
The moon’s midnight watch echoes the
bawling calves.

And a cowboy can’t cry.
cold are the tears in morning coffee.

L.V.C.

Author's Note

Save it for the early hours after a rain

Reviews

[David Scott]

I can see the tears evaporating, uncried from the skyblue eyes. I can hear the cry that will never escape his throat in the questioning panic of the cattle.
I can feel the electric static of emotion held in the thin threads of a plaid flannel shirt. His solitude the only salvation from sparking into an inferno.

[Southern Cross]

*Sigh* Being a cowgirl myself, this was an emotional read for me..Loved the rhythm, the content and the style. It is the hurricanes that always threatened my horses and I know the mood you have described here all too well

[SHEEMA HUQ]

A somber mood is evident here, the cattle images are powerfully conveyed, overall Lee, a fine poem

[Cherrie Palmer]

Born of leather, bathed in dust he just is,

soul without age or end

his life is advertised along his face.

The smell of the earth is good and familiar

A smell he knows and loves.

It holds the seed of life,

just as God’s good rains release it.

it’s said that a cowboy can’t cry

those same rains refresh both soil and soul

and it is Heaven's tears rained down upon him

that spares the cowboy's eye.

[lee von cleef]

Not all can comment to move , to move a word ,to move the meaning
not all can add spelling, add meaning
Not all can step to the cadence of time
not all can take a poems seed and plant it in minds time
Thank you for a tumbling weed slow across gramma-grass
thank you for the traces', silhouettes, of mourning tears ,
For welling our heart right to our eyes
for filling coffee cups,of cowboys
Cowboys who think they can't cry.

[Michael G. Smith]

Cowboys can't cry, but pour their heart out in song like rain.

[frivolous treasures]

I love the first stanza!! Brilliantly penned!! This makes me miss and almost become choked up in missing the country life and the horses I've raised!!
I love this!! Maika'i no!!

[lee von cleef]

there are more horses here, "Come Back Cowboy Comeback" or "Soul"

[frivolous treasures]

I'll be sure to read :) Always loved a good western write ^^ Brings back hope for future humanity lol

[lee von cleef]

a black pot of pinto beans, rice, hot chilie

[frivolous treasures]

Sounds very warming... Just not a hawaiian dish lol!!! But maybe I'll bring that to the next luau I'm in haha. Gosh, I miss the mainland and the horses. The wide open ranges, the ranch, the mountains, the vast ocean skies, the crisp mornings, the times where horse and rider are one.

[lee von cleef]

Better to be one with the horse then apart, ouch

[frivolous treasures]

Haha, I've had my share of falls, especially when training new ones. Horses, I believe, are God's greatest gift to humankind...

[lee von cleef]

we have them patterned in our D N A

[frivolous treasures]

"he rides the wild horses
the same blood runs through their veins
Yes, he rides the wild horses
like the horses, he'll never be tame"

[lee von cleef]

Paste it post it, get the reviews!

[frivolous treasures]

lol its an old song i think.... I cant remember who sang it, but I remember it was playing while I was getting ready for the barrels

[Forever Hidden]

The cattle are hidden in
a thicket, along a flint hill’s gully,
and the rain rolls across the Kansas night,
thunder pumping, rolling
deep, throaty, hollow bellows.


Best paragraph out of the poem. Interesting details are all over the poem, along with the emotion and the feel in it.

[Cassondra]

Love this poem....i can interpret into my day to day life which drew me into the poem & felt the emotion for myself. Also it's very descriptive, which makes for a vivid animation in my head of it! Very nice.

[Cherrie Palmer]

I am enamored with nature but this poem with draw in those that aren’t

[Mark]

Thunderstorms I've witnessed in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Iowa were awe inspiring.

Caught in the powerful pinchers of nature, I felt for the lost herd. Great poem.

[gombeggar]

nice imagery

[Relic]

Wow, this is a total story (and a sad one) in a short poem. The images are so strong and real. Great writing with lots of detail.