Sam called from the truck stop
Said he needed help
Had a German Shepard
That was tryin’ hard to welp.
I saddled up the Yamaha
An’ rode to be some aide
By the time that I arrived there
The doggie had it made.
There wuz four new puppies
Three females and a guy
With black upon their noses
An’ each with closed up eyes.
So, we poured ourselves a beverage
An’ we yarned a little while
For Sam is salt o' this ol' earth
Not a single splash o' guile.
Welpt, Hooker Ben pulled inta the lot
An’ steped down from his Ford
Said he seen my rice burnin’ steed
An’ he wuz getting’ bored.
So, he thunk he’d stop a minnet
An’ make chin music fer a while
Maybe spin a truthful yarn
An’ maybe get a smile.
Afore anyone spake a yarnin’ word
Rawhide an’ Zeke pulled in
Seemed like we wuz a citi’n’
At a spring con-venshin
So, we howdy’d an’ we shook aroun’
An’ sez, “How is yer cows?”
With the polite talk all put aside
We’re at socializin’ now.
Hooker Ben, he up an’ sez,
“Education’s whar it’s at
I’m all I am today forcause
The school desk whar I sat.
I gradgeeated high school
As proud as I could be
I wuz near valedictorian
With an average of cee.
Zeke he sez, “I kept on goin’
To the school ‘til I was done
With the university in Cruces
Ah’ them college days wuz fun.
My degree in agriculture
Wuz won by blood and bone
Now it hang’s there in my study
On a wall that’s made of stone.
An’ it is the single reason
The Runnin’ Z ‘s a bran’ today
When the cattle markets is
Fluctuatin’ in that way.
Education is important
To ever’ man jack who ever lived
An’ I got respect for them school mar’ms
Who give all they got to give.”
I looked off toward the Organs
An’ din’t say much to my friends
For, it’s another conversation
Amongst another bunch of hands
But Rawhide spits, an’ groans a bit
Then in his sofisticated way
I goed to school when I’se a calf
Seems like near to ever’ day.
Mrs. Ramshire, old and grey
She larned us ever’thin’
Readin’, rite’n ‘, calculus
Pen’ship an’ how to sing
From her I larned of education
An’ that’s why I got it made
Twelve years of solid bookschool
Plumb through my own sixth grade.
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Alvin Toffler
I did enjoy this, though I forgot to mention that I did. btw, my dad made it to the sixth grade too...he was ok most of the time, too.
Peter
I enjoyed this Terry. Loved the ending!