The Heroes Of Buzzard's Bend Poem by David Welch

Now I know you've heard the story
of how I all was way back when,
when cowboys rode with Indians
near our small town of Buzzard's Bend.

Not long after the Civil War,
when it was a hot mining claim,
the gold ran out and people left
save for some diehards who remained.

Backwater New Mexico was
not the safest place in that time,
when Diaz came and took the town
nobody noticed, much less gave mind.

You've heard the things he did to us,
turned the people into his slaves,
worked them and took all the profits,
kept the best women for his play.

How he ruled here for eight long months,
his band of brigands walking tall,
and you've heard of the hero who
sent all of these thugs to a fall.

That's why it's still called ‘Mains' Saloon, '
and his grave is kept, even now,
why Hollywood made that bad movie
back when big screen cowboys rode proud.

Yes, you've all heard of Sure-Shot Mains,
but that's not what I will now recount,
but rather what you haven't heard,
so grab a drink and gather round.

The thing that they do not tell you
in this secular world we built
is that Mains claimed to hear voices,
"Set them free, these words are my will."

Yes, Mains talked much about that night,
he believed God commanded him,
maybe He did, why else would Mains
help strangers against odds so grim?

Whatever the case, he rode in
to the town like a man possessed,
Diaz's boys saw him plainly,
and looked not the least bit distressed.

When Mains asked for the man in charge
they laughed, thinking it all a joke,
who was this unarmed farmer boy
to think he could walk with tough folk?

When they told Ramsey Diaz this
he gave out a loud laugh himself,
said, "Hey, if this man wants to talk,
why not hear what he has to tell? ! "

They thought it something of a lark
when he walked into the saloon,
Diaz said, "Well now, say your piece,
then it's off to the mines with you."

But the young man looked not frightened,
and this unnerved Diaz a bit,
Mains just look calm, and said to him,
"God has sent me to tell you this.

"You have to let all these folks go,
he's not fond of your whips and chains,
and tells me things will get quite bad
if I have to tell you again."

The serenity in Mains's eyes
just enraged Diaz all the more,
he roared, "Send this fool to the mine,
make him take the place of the horse!

"A few days of pulling oar carts
will break the ego in this fool.
At very least it gives me time
to think up something much more cruel! "

But Mains just shrugged, then said, "Let's go."
offered the wrists to his bandittos.
Two of them led the man away,
Diaz fumed more watching him go.

Denied the chance to see him beg,
denied the chance to drink his fear,
he growled, "Find that redhead whore!
Wake her up, and send her round here! "

The next morning Diaz awoke,
still unsettled by the affair,
left the redhead there on the bed,
surprised by a note of despair.

Seeing the young woman sleeping…
such a sight just troubled his mind,
you could believe her innocent,
but he knew all hearts were malign.

That was what his life had taught him,
since the days of his recent youth,
when his whore mother had run off,
and his father beaten him blue.

There only was what you could take,
the priests blathered nothing of sense,
Mains had claimed that he came from God…
what madness possessed broken men?

But as he neared the window glass
Diaz heard a low, buzzing sound,
he pulled aside the muslin drapes,
and saw something carpet the ground.

A moving, humming, writhing mass,
he saw the motion of their wings,
locusts moving in a great swarm,
the insects covered everything…

It was a shocking sight to see,
and more so when his men came in,
"They're eating the grass on the range,
even all the kitchen gardens!

"How will our people grow the food?
How will all our cattle get fat? "
Diaz frowned as he heard the news,
they made quite a good point at that.

They'd taken all the local herds
when they'd taken over the town,
still thin were they, worth no good coin,
now their graze was razed to the ground!

"There's nothing we can do right now, "
said Diaz, pouring some whiskey,
"Besides, this town is worth much more
then rustled cattle are to me."

The men did not look all that glad,
but what other choice did remain?
They settled in to wait them out,
and could handle a little pain.

But Diaz couldn't help but think
of the man Mains they had captured,
one hell of a coincidence,
suspicious men might be disturbed.

Yet Diaz was not one of those,
so just sighed, went about his day,
until night came and a rancher's
fair daughter let him have his way.

Again he woke, this time at night,
saw his whore in the candle glow,
the swell in her belly was quite plain,
was it his bastard? He didn't know.

But he heard voices in the street,
walked over and saw his own gang
scratching themselves, cursing the world,
took him a bit to understand.

Then he could see it, the boils,
on their neck and wrists, bright and red,
he felt an itch on his own back,
and felt a cold moment of dread.

Now Diaz could not ignore it,
and Mains's words came echoing, more…
He had a sinking feeling that
he'd heard this tale play out before.

And then the woman in his bed,
turned slightly, her belly in sight…
A cold dread came upon his mind,
and he felt a new and strange fright…

Without a word he found his horse,
snuck out while his men stood and cursed,
turned his horse south, towards the last mine
that people in Buzzard's Bend worked.

The locals saw him riding in,
glowering in hatred, deserved,
all except one, who slept outside,
as if he heard not a sound or word.

Diaz saw Mains, rode up to him,
dismounted and walked to his side,
said, "Are you the one doing this? "
Mains just smiled, "The power's not mine."

What snapped in Diaz, none can say,
but he looked down on Mains, declared,
"If I refuse, this will go on,
with ever increasing despair? "

Mains could only give him a shrug,
and Diaz felt increasing weight.
"I won't harden my heart to this, "
said Diaz. "It is it now too late? "

Mains raised an eyebrow in surprise,
the first emotion that he'd shown.
He gawked and said, "You'd leave them now?
Just that simple, you'll up and go? "

Diaz said, "I am not a fool,
not so dumb to challenge the throne.
It's clear enough how this will end,
with pain, and misery, and moans…"

He remembered the swollen girl,
and realized, to his great surprise,
that he cared for that unborn babe,
didn't want to see it die.

"Three of my men are just farm-boys,
They'll flee if they face a real fright.
One's never shot a man before,
the other two will give the fight.

"The tall one with the forehead scar,
the short, balding one with the limp,
they're the ones they need to take down,
with those two men you should begin.

"I don't know what power you have,
or if He really sent you here,
but only a fool would miss that
there is much more here than appears.

"I'm riding on while I still can,
you need never fear me again,
there's no need to repeat this tale,
I've already heard how it ends."

With that he steered his horse aside,
clapped his heals, and spurred on a loke,
left his gun-belt there on the ground,
Mains did nothing but watch him go.

Now you've all heard what Mains did next,
that's the story Hollywood told,
how he took on the thugs alone,
and left four of the bastards cold.

They even claimed that Diaz died,
cut down by Smith's swift, steady hand,
but Ramsey was nowhere near there,
did not go down amongst the damned.

Instead he was miles away,
slumped half-defeated on his horse,
he had escaped, but thoughts were dark
and depressed as a matter of course.

How could he feel anything else
after all that had just occurred?
Sure, he'd seen his mistakes in time,
but the weight of his past sins burned.

Had he not killed seizing that town,
forced women to bend to his will?
Had he not stolen what they'd made
under threat of them being killed?

Could anyone come back from that?
It was a thing he didn't know,
he hadn't felt such weight before,
and his thoughts were becoming low.

He saw the shiny metal gun,
in the holster there on his hip,
was the what ruined men should do?
Was that how he could pay for it?

He hoisted it up in his hands,
felt the final weight of the gun…
when a fleet voice said "{Verily,
you will be with Me in Heaven.}"

He turned, but he saw nothing there,
nobody in sight for miles,
then sighed and put the gun away,
and continued through the wild.

He changed his name, of course, the law
still put a price upon his head,
that new name he brought to this place,
this Mission where he'd find a bed.

That name is now on the front gate,
for the orphans he raised inside,
that name is what the pope called him
when the man became canonized.

It was the name that others knew
when he ministered to their sick,
he's a hero under that name,
but you see, it just didn't stick.

Folks come here seeking out his grave,
a saint's pilgrimage they all say,
they don't find that name in our plots,
disappointed, they go one their way.

We don't tell them he's in plain sight,
‘Ramsey Diaz' is on his stone,
since that's the name he was saved as,
and to God alone now is known…