Cowboy Poetry

Here's the poem I get to read in the Sunset On The Mississippi show as the Cowboy Poet. That's kind of a stretch, isn't it?  I'm excited that they liked the poem I choose...now, I have to memorize it.  Yikes!


Jake, the rancher went one day, 
To fix a distant fence. 
The wind was cold and gusty,
And the clouds rolled gray and dense.

As he pounded the last staple in, 
And gathered his tools to go, 
The temperature had fallen,
And the snow had begun to blow.

When he got back to his pickup, 
He had a heavy heart.
From the sound of the ignition, 
He knew it wouldn't start!

So Jake did what most of us would do,
If only we'd been there. 
He humbly bowed his balding head,
And sent aloft a prayer.

He turned the key just one more time, 
Then softly cursed his luck. 
They found him three days later, 
Frozen stiff in that old truck.

Now Jake had been around in life, 
And done his share of roamin’ 
But he was shocked when he got to heaven –
Why, it looked just like Wyomin’!

Of all the saints in Heaven, 

His favorite was St Peter. 

And when Jake got to Heaven

Why, guess who was the greeter!?

They sat and talked a minute or two, 

Or maybe it was three,

There weren’t no one a-keeping score,

In Heaven, time is free.

"I've always heard," Jake said to Pete, 
"That God will answer prayer, 
But the one time that I asked for help, 
Well, He just plain weren’t there."

"Does God answer the prayers of some, 
And ignore the prayers of others? 
That don't seem exactly square,
Seeing that all men are brothers."

"Or does he randomly reply, 
Without good rhyme or reason? 
Or maybe, it's the time of day,
The weather, or the season?"

"Now I ain't trying to act smart, 
It's just the way I feel. 
And I was wondering, could you explain,
Just what the heck's the deal?!"

Peter had listened patiently, 
And when old Jake was done, 
He gave a smile of recognition,
Then he said, "So, you're the one!!"

"That day when your truck wouldn't start 
And you sent your prayer a-flying, 
You gave us all a real bad time, 
With hundreds of us all trying."

"A thousand angels rushed
To check the status of your file. 
But you know, Jake, we hadn't heard
from you in quite a while."

"And though all prayers are answered, 
And God ain't got no quota, 
He didn't recognize your voice, 
And started a truck in North Dakota!"