Home Again
Stable doors hang open, ever since pappy died.
Broken rusted hinges, cause gates to hang cockeyed.
Nineteen fifty eight the year, the old man passed away,
after that no horses 'round, needing any hay.
We were very busy then git'n this and that,
no time for a big old ranch, so empty it just sat.
Boarded up the windows, crops all went dead,
headed for the city, worked hard to get ahead
Fifty years flew by before I was to feel,
that all I’d gotten from city life, really wasn't real.
Visions of an old spread in green Montana hills,
couldn't see just ranching then, paying all the bills.
Old, now like pappy was when last he used his tack,
Finally I am headed home, to get that city off my back.
At last the time has come again, for silence of the morn,
in the place I should have stayed, place where I was born.
Life passes faster now than it used to seem.
Days move in eye blinks and months are just a dream.
Waking up this old ranch will have to happen fast,
should I have a chance at all, making up my past.
Here in this mountain meadow twix't grass and tree,
in my minds eye a reborn ranch, I can plainly see.
Standing here at sunrise, in warmth of morning sun,
gotta get a move on, just wish'n won’t get it done.
Saddles cracked and dusty, bridles curled and hard,
fields of weeds, tilted barns and boulders dot the yard.
Ain't gonna be easy, know’d I shoulda stayed back then,
hard work getting her back to where she should’a been.
But ole pappy was a gentle soul, a real forgiving man,
He'd say just get to work, do the best you can.
Don't you worry about the past or all that coulda been,
just be glad for what ya got, cuz now your home again.
Marc Bradshaw