His nose was a bulbous, gosh-awful thing!
White in winter,but pink in the Spring
When color came with the sun,(and some gin).
"It don't hurt none.", he said with a grin.
When he walked you could see by the shape of his legs
That his days had been spent on horses - or kegs!
His knees wouldn't touch if you taped them together.
His ears were all gnarled by the wind and weather.
Tex heard we had work at the Double - Bar - T.
"Been ropin' near Pecos since late sixty-three."
"How old are you, cowboy? Sure you can ride?"
"Eighty-five, Ma'am. Do I look like I've died?"
We just couldn't hire Tex.... or turn him away.
So we told him to bunk in the barn for a stay.
He had no horse, or saddle, or money.
His eyes were blood-shot. He rasped kinda' "funny".
"How you feelin' Tex? We can get you to Doc.
"Thanks, kind lady, but I'm sound as a rock!".
What do you do with an old cowpoke like him?
If you keep him or boot him you're out on a limb.
"Let's keep him, Lord help us! We must be insane.
We ain't turnin' him out in the cold and the rain."
So we fixed him a place in the barn, with a bed.
"It's my own little castle", he jokingly said.
On a chilled winter night a norther' blowed in
Bringin' fresh snow, and poppin' the tin
Tex didn't make breakfast, so went to his bed.
The crusty old cowboy we called "Tex" was dead.
He had scrawled out a note. It was stuck in one boot.
" You all shore have blessed this old sorry galoot!
I come to the Bar-T and wus plumb out o' luck.
No horse and no saddle. Didn't have not one buck.
One thing I did bring, 'sides a runny bad cold,
Is for you kind folks. It's a nugget of gold."
It lay in his hat like the egg of a hen!
Be kind to old cowboys! You never know when...