The Ol' Hitchin' Rail

Ol’ Kiley, he’d gone out a ridin’, Just to clear his weary head— ‘Bout the workin’ of this busy world And how it done changed the spread. Seems things they were just changin’ too fast, And new owners had fired men— Ol’ Kiley, he figured he’d go next— Just didn’t know why or when. Then right in the middle of nowhere— Like he’d just seen him a ghost— Sure ‘nuff amid the grass and the sage, Stood an ol’ wood hitchin’ post. But it weren’t really just a post now— It were two posts and a rail— Where long ago you tied up your horse After ridin’ down some trail. Kiley hitched his hoss there and got down, And it gave him pause to think— As he kicked the remnants of a trough Where once the horses could drink. But here it was now, all by itself— No buildin’s ‘round - all alone, Nothin’ to mark where once it belonged As it stood without a home. In front he could see the faint tracin’s Of a buildin’s foundation: A home, a store or stage coach stop That marked a once great nation. He stood there by his horse – shook a post To test the strength of that rail— And to his surprise it was solid And not at all was it frail. Then as he gazed across empty land— He sensed change had come here, too— And only our solid moorin’s last— Without them we’re all just through. And how was it, Kiley asked himself— Sometimes we hitch up all wrong— When we have the choice of tyin’ up With life’s best where we belong? And how come there are those sad ol’ times When we didn’t hitch at all— But just kept on ridin’ life real hard Till ones we loved all turned small? So Kiley unhitched his ol’ paint hoss From that solid hitchin’ rail— And he headed back to his new ranch To face change that must prevail. He looked back once at that hitchin’ rail— Wondered how long it would last— Till wind and sun and snow would weaken The strength that now held it fast. You see, there’s nothin’ certain in life And there’s much at which we fail— But time and change always ride with us, When once we hitch to life’s rail.