Ballad Of The Canyon Poem by Linda Ori

The late afternoon was a scorching inferno
The cowboy drooped lazily down in his seat,
The high painted walls of the canyon rose steeply
Baking the earth in the sweltering heat;

The cowboy gazed far up the walls that enclosed him,
Whispering encouraging words to his horse,
Deep in his heart was a pain that kept burning,
Pushing him on with invisible force;

Meanwhile, the sun had been slowly descending
Into the folds of the wide western sky,
Darkness was veiling the trail through the canyon,
The trail through the canyon with walls oh, so high;

On into darkness the two weary travelers
Wandered o'er rocks and o'er crevasses deep,
Cowboy and horse now were nearly exhausted
Far off the trail on a ledge oh, so steep;

Soon the poor cowboy slumped down in his saddle
Weary and worn from the stress and the strain,
His faithful companion continued the journey
Though his heart hammered and pounded with pain;

Upward and onward the brave horse did travel
Bearing his master - a burden of love,
Hours and hours had dwindled to nothing
Still he trudged on toward the world far above;

Over the rough, jagged ledges he clambered,
Nearer to death, yet to life with each stride,
Higher and higher he staggered and stumbled
All laws of nature and fate he defied;

The travelers emerged from the yawn of the canyon
The yawn of the canyon with walls oh, so high,
Over the rim to the wide open heavens
Into the world 'neath the wid western sky;

The faltering horse led his master to safety
Over the prarie and into the town,
Now with his heartbreaking journey behind him
The poor faithful horse to his death tumbled down;

Many a cowboy was lost in that canyon,
Many a cowboy was left there to die,
Fortunate he who returns from that canyon,
That huge painted canyon with walls oh, so high.



To the tune of 'El Paso'