Biggest Killer Of Cowboys Poem by David Harris

The sound of thousands of hooves
carry across the prairie,
another cattle drive is on its way.
The scene makes you think
of western films you have seen.
Where the cowboys would be beset
by rustlers or Indians at every mile
or they’d be hit by a dust storm
which would cause a stampede.
You’d expect to see bodies
strewn about here and there.
However, the biggest killer of cowboys
was never the arrow or gun,
as most films would have you believe,
but the waters of rivers they had to cross.
More cowboys lost their lives in being drowned
than in gunfights were shot down.

11 February 2008