New Year At the Line Camp

Now cowboys don’t have much call, to celebrate the New Year, They’re mostly holed up in line camps, waitin’ for snow to clear. They might be playin’ cards or tellin’ tall ones with a grin Or writin’ letters home or rememberin’ things back when. But there are those few-- thinkin’ back on life and its strange way-- Who ‘member when Kid Short saved a life and grew a bunch that day. And how Zack Buck seemed to get tired of livin’ under stars And moved back to the town to live his life in cattle cars. Yet, we still see old Mac LaDue in duds all decked out fine, Who passed away just this last year, too young at ninety-nine. And there was Slim and Whitey, two cowpokes that paid no heed, But proved the bravest of the brave and died in the stampede. So now this old year’s soon gone, and another takes its place, As the moon again rises and shows its familiar face. But in that warm line camp, an old cowboy’s life never ends, As long as that New Year comes, and it’s shared with all his friends.