A Canny Cowgirl and her Hat
When I'm in town, folks stare at me in my ol' Bailey* hat,
but all my friends know that it's been where all the action's at.
I've had it many years; it's soft, but tough as old rawhide,
and sweat-stained, worn, and dusty---but I wear it still, with pride.
It's been with me through thick 'n' thin, the good times and the bad.
You might say it's a friend to me: the best I've ever had.
It's shielded me in summer from the blazing of the sun,
and stayed in place through every barrel-race* that I have run.
It's been knocked off a time or two, and stomped into the dirt.
It helps me when I'm hazin'* cows; I've used it for a quirt*.
It's sheltered me in many storms, from rain and snow and sleet.
(I've even used it on a time to warm my freezin' feet!)
It comes in purty handy too, when sackin'* out the broncs;
and it's in style when I go dancin' at the honky-tonks.
This hat has even turned a ragin' bull that broke my rope;
'cause when I slapped his nose with it, he quit me on the lope.
Then there's times I've used this hat to water down my hoss;
and it's a sign to everyone that I am still the boss.
My neighbors recognize me by my hat, out on the range,
and for a fancy Stetson I would never care to change.
It's spattered with dehornin'* blood; it's got a crooked crease,
but if I bought another hat, I couldn't be at peace.
I just can't bear to let it go, it's been with me so long.
To put it 'out to pasture,' so to speak, would just be wrong
When I am called up yonder, far beyond the Great Divide,
and if I'm blessed enough that Heaven's horses I can ride,
I hope they let me bring along my beat-up Bailey hat . . .
If not, St. Pete and me are gonna have one awful spat!
*Author's Footnotes: Bailey - the second oldest cowboy hat maker in the U.S., equal in quality to Stetson; Barrel-race - a ladies' rodeo competition, where the cowgirls ride a cloverleaf pattern between three barrels for the fastest time; Hazin' - essentially the act of 'shooing' cows in the direction you want them to go so they can be gathered up or kept together in a herd; Quirt - a short-handled riding whip made of braided leather for goading livestock to move, not actual whipping; Sackin' - waving and flapping a burlap or cloth sack on and about a green horse before saddle-training, to teach him not to be skittish of moving things, such as a whirling lariat or other object; Dehornin' - the act of sawing the horns off of cattle, mostly so they can negotiate cattle-chutes without getting hung up or injuring one another (or the cowhands, either).
By Wordworx
© 2008 Wordworx
(All rights reserved)
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