Postcard from the Past: Let’s Pretend We’re Cowboys
Summer brings a rash of cowboy gatherings, rodeos, ranch events, cowboy music and poetry outings. And best of all, it brings a flood of memories of years past when cowboys were cowboys and family gatherings were something special.
Today, it seems many folks call themselves cowboys but have never rode the range or punched a cow. Others recall the past with a tall tale, a “windy,” old photographs or a poem.
A lot of Wyoming folks will relate with this poem by Roy Welton of Saratoga.
Let’s Pretend We’re Cowboys
By Roy Welton
Let’s pretend we’re cowboys
and ride the range
once more,
and wear our hat – big at that –
just like we did before.
Hoop and holler driving cows
and swinging our ropes at heels,
spurring our horse through the creek
and remember how
it feels!
Eat some dust till sundown
and get so tired we
stall,
slappin’ leather and fightin’ weather
the memories tell it all!
Stop for grub on a hillside
and gaze at the flats
below,
red cows on green grass
and then, you’ll begin
to know. Why you still remember
the days when you
were young,
driving a team, while you dream
over a wagon tongue.
As time slipped by somewhere
we still miss the coy-
ote call.
Let’s pretend we’re cowboys,
for a day – let’s just recall!
Others recall cowboy and Western history and tradition through cowboy poetry and music, which will be featured at the 22nd Annual Grand Encampment Cowboy Gathering July 19-21 in Encampment. But then, that’s another story to be told next week.
