Lonley Ranch Road

Left my love above a lonely ranch road
Like a promise made but a debt still owed
Released to the winds by two she loved
Free to fly on like the spanish dove
High above that broken heart ranch
High above the tamarack branch
Looking down she will see him ride out
On his favorite mount a true cowboy scout
To check on the fences, the corn and the cows
To check on the water the fields and the plows
If you look in the morning or late in the eve
When the sun is still rising or setting with ease
You will sometimes see them both on that ridge
Between this life an that across a far bridge
One flies to the east on a strong steady wing
One rides to the west where the cowboys still sing
                -yfp-



She Is In a Better Place

She is in a better place
Only happiness on her face
She hikes the wooded trail
With a body that is not frail
She climbs the mountain tops
In bounds and leaps and hops
She paddles the pristene lake
Cleaving a ribboned wake
She has no single care
Her body will not wear
She owns the sun and stars
The moon that shines afar
I will see her in the trees
And know she smiles at me
I will feel her in the wind
A kiss upon my skin
I will hold her in the dark
Firmly against my heart
She is still my guiding light
Always in my sight
When my trail has to end
On her I can depend
With open arms we’ll meet
Forever to hold and keep

 -yfp-




This Trail is Too Tough

We climbed Roan Mountain, trees bent and froze
Till forced to retreat and thaw out our numb toes
Howling north winds uprooted pines from the duff
But the trail we now take is proving too tough

We paddled kayaks in rain through the Misty Fjords
Among Orca with dorsals the size of surfboards
At night bears in our camp tried to raid the foodstuff
But the trail we now take is proving too tough

We hiked in the night over Baked Oven Knob
On wracked knees and sore feet, coarse as corn cobs
Up that Appalachian Trail you might have heard of
But this trail we now take is proving too tough

We camped with alligators in the vast Everglades
With panthers, snakes and mosquitoes in spades
We froze in chickees till we had quite enough
But this trail we now take is proving too tough

We trekked in the desert, up mountains, through trees
Baked by the sun then froze by the breeze
Sunburned and bug bit we laughed, “that’s not rough!”
But this trail we now take is proving too tough

Twenty miles each day with just bread left to sup
We’re long distance hikers,we never give up
This trail we will beat in the end you will see
It is tough but we’re tougher; Toesox and me!

-yfp-


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The Alligator’s Lair

Today we paddled to the alligator’s lair,
Through cypress trees dripping mossy wet hair,
Past beaver lodges, through spatterdock,
Deadly silent, but I heard they can bark,
Our paddles slice through stagnant duckweed,
In this quest to see a gator, indeed!
Too late to turn back, or even around,
Black water, my boat, it completely surrounds,
The weeds, the moss, tower above my ducked head,
So low in the water is what I most dread,
Pressed on in our search, the noises and sounds,
Of buzzing and screeching and my heart when it pounds,
The water, it looks like I could just step out,
And walk on it’s surface to look all about,
Then I see up ahead in the swamp she is trapped,
In the knees of the cypress her kayak is wrapped,
I hear such a scream, then a scream once again,
Is the nightmare we feared about to begin?
As the screams and the splashing begin to subside,
I see she still lives, her paddle held high!
To strike it with might again on it’s head?
The closer I paddle it’s clear I misread….
The danger was not huge teeth and great tail….
as long as the boat and covered with scale.
The danger it seems was all in our head,
Just a little fish jumping and bravery was shed!
We laugh when we paddle that place now and then,
Remembering what nimrods we surely had been.
Now we still go, when it rains and it’s dark,
When the swamp closes in and in the distance they bark.
I don’t worry what happens if a gator we meet,
In a paddle for life, her……I know I can beat!

-yfp-


The Grail Bird

I heard they found the Ivory Bill
Once thought extinct it lives here still
They found it in the woods so deep
A secret life it tried to keep
Far from man in old growth wood
But it’s call was heard and understood
They came in boats and some on foot
All camouflaged, on faces soot
Decoys spread so that they might
Track it down and film it’s flight
So now it’s found and made the news
The world all kneels on birder’s pews
The Grail Bird’s out and on display
I’m glad it’s safe but don’t hurray
For sixty years it hid about
It’s secret safe, but now it’s out
So this must be it’s second chance
Can we not spare the song and dance?
Just stay away and let it think
That we’re the ones who went extinct

-yfp-


The So Called Hunters

I see them almost every season
Why they kill I see no reason
They are so fat, it’s not for food
Maybe to boost a macho mood?
The solar feeder, it’s seeds abound
Same time each day sprays food around
So deer will gather at it’s feet
This “hunter” sits on a cozy seat
Only fifty yards and through his scope
Of 9X power and still he hopes
That he can hit that buck and put it in the bag
And around a campfire with beer and brag
To all who will listen he will tell
Such tales of tracking and shot so well
How he bagged that buck and packed it out
No need to say in a “four by” Scout
I used to hunt and quite a lot
But quickly found a sport it’s not
When deer are taught a timer’s dance
Scoped magnums roar, they have no chance
They can have it all, I want no part
I just wish the deer would start
To learn to shoot and get them first
Those so-called “hunters” with blood thirst

-yfp-


Missing You

I miss your shoulders
and your soft lips
Your laughing eyes
and your kiss
Your loving arms
around my waist
Our quiet talks
and your face
I miss your touch
upon my skin
I miss your ear
to whisper in
But most of all
I miss my heart
When you left
you took that part
To love you more
I need it back
To fill this void
deep and black
So don't delay
Please return
Remove this hurt
and ease this burn
You are my life
Please hurry back
I love you so
Sheila Black

-yfp-


Give Me the Mountains


Give me the mountains,
The mountain‘s cold breeze.
I’ll take the trail,
The trail ’neath the trees.
Give me the friends,
The friends on the A.T.
I’ll take the wind,
It sounds good to me,
Give me the night,
The night and the stars,
I’ll take the freedom to be just who we are.
Give me the heart,
The heart for the next climb.
And I’ll take the love,
I’ll not leave behind.
For traveling alone,
Is traveling half blind.

-yfp-