Old Timer Poem by Smoky Hoss

He was the best influence
a boy could ever have,
right up there
alongside my dad.
His farm was just across the pasture
from the house I grew up in,
it was over there
that I spent many a day working for and with him.
He taught me so very much
like how to tell right from wrong,
when to be soft and gentle
and when to be brave and strong.
He was part rancher, part farmer
and always a full-time, hard-working, top-hand,
I learned from him to work without complaint
and to ride for the brand.
He showed me how to drive a tractor
long before I could handle a car,
and how to spot a lost calf
hiding at the edge of a field way off far.
We'd talk for hours
while out mending miles of fence,
with a wonderful old-school knowledge
he'd share with me his superlative common sense.
Even though I was young
he treated me fair, just like a grown man,
he told me, always do what's right
and against what's wrong take a firm stand.
Better than most he understood the value
of friendship and loyalty,
so many were the gracious gifts of wisdom
he freely bestowed upon me.
Like how to sit a horse
rope a calf, and milk an ornery old cow,
there's so much more I'd like to tell
but, time and space won't allow.
So here in this little way, I'd just like to say
my hat's off and my heart forever goes out,
to that grand old-timer of my early days
who taught me young, what life is really about.