Cowboys & Indians Or The Optimist Poem by Res John Burman

Many years ago
When I first moved
To the country
I worked on a farm.

On my way to work
I’d often come across
A traffic jam
In the country lane.

Godfrey walking behind
Ernie Hathams Cows
Re-enacting the film he’d seen
The previous night on TV.

One morning he would strut
Legs bowed from an evening
Bronc busting, hands hovering
Over his holstered colts.

Next day perhaps
With his rifle at the high port
He’d patrol the lane behind the cows
Wary head swivelling to find Germans in ambush.

When Godfrey became a Red Indian
Wellington boots lifting and shuffling
To the beat of the war dance
You kept tight hold of your scalp.

Every so often an advert would appear
In the local paper
“Wanted, Live in Housekeeper,
Apply, Godfrey, The Caravan,
Ernie Hatham’s Farm! ”

(22nd February 2008)