Two Cowboys In the Badlands

“Let ‘em loose,” came his bellowing yell, “I got 3,000 head I gotta to sell, Goin' 1,000 miles in weather that's hell, You're all gonna sweat and all gonna smell”- The boss’s eyes on ten cowboys did lay, With disdain in his words he smirked to say, “Keep ‘em cattle rollin', don’t let ‘em stray, If one ends up missing, you’re all gonna pay,” They worked hard, like good wranglers would, Never slowing down, even when they could, Their sleep was short and their food no good, At the end the boss said, "they'd misunderstood"- A man doesn’t work for two months on the trail, Through dust storms, winds, the rains and the gales, To be told by his boss “You utterly failed, and if you complained, he’d put you in jail.” Most walked away, with no money in hand, The boss was a cheat, like no other man, Two stayed behind and took a firm stand, “Give us our pay!” that's our demand!" They swallowed hard and filled their canteens, These two rugged cowboys were tough and lean- “South Dakota Badlands,” neither had seen, One of them was thirty, the other nineteen- “Partner,” the younger one said, “Don’t know if we should’ve fled-“ The other stared, then shook his head, Saying, “It was either him or us dead!” The older one, his chaps he unfurled, His chew on the ground he spat and hurled- “An old Indian belief,” he said with lips curled, “There ain't no death, only a change of worlds,” No one knows if they made it across, If they found refuge or if they got lost- Or with their lives, paid the ultimate costs, All because they had shot their range boss- Cowboys at home spun their tale that night, While eating ‘round the campfire light- ‘bout two heroes who weren’t afraid to fight, And took out the man who’d done none of them right-