City Cowboy

Why are you wearing a suit and a tie city cowboy?

Riding up there at a desk in the sky city cowboy

Why are your shoes getting thin from hitting concrete?

Where are those boots your daddy put on your feet?

City cowboy you’ve always been told a man shouldn’t cry

But sometimes you think of the days that are gone

It puts a tear in your eye

             * * * * *  *

Helping your dad break a horse that he raised just for you

Learning the magic that seeds in the warm earth could do

Fixing the holes in the fence so the cows wouldn’t stray

You were too young to see it all slipping away

                  * * * * *

You loved that old man who would talk of the days on the range

He’d laugh and say you’d ride along when your voice had changed

You know now he lied, he was hurting inside, and he knew

You’d never follow his trail, the cowboy was through

                 * * * * *

Watching the malls and pavement creep over the land

Kneeling to smell the soil as it spilled through your hand

The sound of the auctioneer’s gavel felt like a knife

Strangers were carving away parts of your life

Cowboy you’ve always been told a man shouldn’t cry

But sometimes you think of the days that are gone

It puts a tear in your eye

--Johnny Paycash