Riding the Rails

There once was a hobo that lived by the tracks Never age a full meal, just ate lots of snacks He rode in a boxcar most everywhere he went And traveled for free, didn’t spent a cent He had a name most think sounds quite silly Friends and foes called him Boxcar Willy He made a friend, his name was Larry Only had one eye and looked kind of scary They traveled awhile and seemed to do well Till they hopped the wrong train, headed for hell It was headed to Yuma and a prison at that The ride they were taking was never coming back They hopped that train in the dark of night Without a clue what would be their plight Next morning, Willy was startled at first daylight He couldn’t believe what came into sight Three men with knives were circling Larry They were screaming at him and calling him Harry Seems he had betrayed them on a Mississippi ferry Willy pulled his gun and said back off from Larry They grabbed him from the back, put a knife to his throat They said, “throw out the gun are you’ll be in the same boat I pitched it out the door, then much to my surprise Larry disappeared right before our eyes With nothing to do for hours on end We all road the rails and had stories to spin But of all I’ve heard and all I’ve told The story of Larry disappearing, broke to mold