Those Halcyon Hero Days

Smiley sold autographs and pieces of his hat, they say— In halcyon movie days when heroes just blew away. There came a time western movie jobs were sparse as hen’s teeth, And Ken and Kermit Maynard retired and lived on relief. Ken was reduced to a trailer on a Hollywood lot, Where he nursed pride and bottles and dreamt of what he was not. And fans that came to talk with him had no need of poses, As long as they brought ‘long a bottle of Seven Roses. Then Ken would show them his fancy holsters with guns loaded— And he’d relive days again of heroes and villains he goaded. But though he did not have much, those guns were still his prize— “He’d not sell them for anything,” was written in his eyes. Two pension checks were all he lived on, and they seemed paltry— One from government and a false named one from Gene Autry. So it went with now rare jobs, he lived more like a hermit— But even with the drink, he outlived his brother Kermit. And so it went in better times when cowboys had their say— In halcyon movie days when heroes just blew away.