Member Talent: Ed Dodrill

At the November meeting, Ed Dodrill shared a cowboy poem he wrote:

The cowboy’s last goodbye

By Ed Dodrill

Based on an old Jewish Joke

The Johnson’s came by early,
To say their last goodbye
As old Hagen lie awaiting
His journey toward the sky

The neighbors had been dropping by
Not knowing what to say
Since Parson Bell announced he might
Not live another day

No one knew when he settled here,
But his deed reads number one
And Hagen always came around
When work had to be done

The old settler often showed his grit
When life put him through hell
He never once would turn his back
Nor on misfortunes dwell

The sun was still a shining
When he opened up his eyes
And Mae was sitting at his side,
Though that was no surprise

He managed to produce a smile
And gently turned his head
“You’ve always been here at my side,”
The dying cowboy said

“You were there when the storm of ‘28
Wiped out half our herd
When the prairie fire burned our
house,You never said a word

And you were riding at my side,
Checking out the herd
The day before the sheriff said
They all must be destroyed

Fire, disease and awful weather,
Blown in straight from hell
Came to settle at our ranch
More times than I can tell

And every time the wrath of God
Came nipping at my heels
You were right there with me Mae,
Do you know just how that feels?

And so Mae, I must tell you,
As my final hour sinks
Today I finally realize,
Mae, you’ve been a jinx