The Brown Eyed Calf
The Brown Eyed Calf
Now ol’ Dan was a calf roper
Won lots of cash that way
He’d rope at county fairs and such
A big boost to his pay.
He done it for so many years
They got to seem the same
Sometimes he lost track of the town
Could not recall the name.
So it weren’t no great big surprise
That calves seemed all alike
He’d rope and tie ‘em, get his pay
An’ go on down the pike.
Then one day in some Texas town
It somehow went awry.
Didn’t seem to be no reason
He couldn’t figger why.
He’d thrown a calf down on its side
An’ glanced into its eyes.
Somethin’ happened - don’t know what
The calf looked downright wise.
He heard the calf begin to speak,
“You don’t know what you’ve done.
I won’t always be this little,
Your time will surely come.”
Well, Dan just purely came unstuck.
He staggered to his horse –
Rode out the gate an’ down the street
Just drippin’ with remorse.
He switched to ridin’ bulls instead
So he won’t see those eyes
Won’t have to look into that face
An’ tell himself them lies.
An’ then one day in Abilene
He’d settled in the chute.
While he was wrappin’ up his hand
A voice came from that brute.
“Well, lookey here, it’s you again,
I told you I’d get growed!
The jokes on you this time, my friend.
Ain’t me that’s gettin’ throwed.
Touch me with those spurs and watch
What happens to yor’ bones.
I aim to scatter you around
An’ listen to yor’ moans.”
They opened up the gate just then
Out came that snortin’ beast
But Dan weren’t nowhere to be seen,
Some say he headed East.
They say he lives a simple life
Never seems to laugh
He tells the same ol’ story ‘bout
The brown eyed killer calf.
Januaary, 2013
Copyright © Larry Bradfield | Year Posted 2016
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