Volume 8 , Issue 33

Poetry From Cowboy Dentist

One of our readers writes, "I, just from the luck of a referral from a referral, happened upon a most excellent and patient dentist in Durango, with the heart of a cowboy and the soul of a poet, and learned that his roots were from Northwest Oklahoma stock. He shared a poem with me that he had written about his maternal grandfather, Coleman Griffin. I received his permission to have you publish this poem in your NW Okie Ezine." Thanks, Dr. Eich, for sharing your Cowboy Poetry with us all! This is a small world, isn't!

THE CIRCLE
I take this watch out of my vest, its shape, a circle, no doubt the best,
to set me thinkin' of time turned back to a bygone era in the West.

"CG" is stamped in script on gold, on this circle from the days of old;
Coleman Griffin wore it then, not knowin' what the future'd hold.

He was a cowboy in that age of forkin' broncs 'neath sky and sage,
In the Indian Nation, now Oklahoma, on the Sumter Ranch out west by Gage.

Little did he know when life was done, that his baby girl would have a son,
Who'd love the cowboy way of life: horses, cows, and old six-guns.

And pausing here at a shooting match, to check the time on his old watch,
I wonder if he somehow sees how the hands of time turned back a notch.

I also wonder if old Gramps knows that one great grandson also chose
To spend his summers wranglin' colts, keeping the circle from growing closed.

Yes, this circle seems to be complete, and now I see how history repeats,
As my son, Coleman takes the place of Grandpa Coleman in a saddle seat.

Yet I hope there'll be some other one to carry on 'til Kingdom comes:
That these hands of time keep turning 'round and the circle will go on and on. -- author: James Coleman Eich - Cowboy Dentist, Durango, Colorado
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