Out Amongst The Cadillacs

 

Out Amongst the Cadillacs

Out amongst the Cadillacs

With wheels of rust

I dream the dreams

Of backwoods girls

In fields of dust.

There ain't that much to do

But dream my dreams

Sit in the sun

And fish

In dried up streams.

They tell me once

This place was sweet and fair

But if it was

I just can't see

No sweetness there.

Just me and Hank

The hound dog laying round

In sun beamed rays

Of daylight

On the ground.

Every now and then

He lifts his head

To scowl at me 

But mostly though

He just plays dead.

He chased a rabbit once

For half a yard

Then stopped and shrugged

The hell with it

It was too hard.

There came a feller through

Five year ago

Looking fine

And making time

But had to go.

He charmed me with

The stories he would tell

My daddy said 

He was a snake

But I still wish him well.

My daddy picked me out a beau 

When I was just a lass

Old as my dad

But he left me mad

And tired of all my sass.

My mama ran away

When I was three

My daddy caught her

With a peddler

Sitting on his knee.

My daddy died in '86

With no known reason to

He left me Hank

And this little shack

And a Cadillac or two.

But they don't run, they never did

And I don't know how to drive

So I stay put

Me and the mutt

And try to stay alive.

The cow and chicken, they provide

Friendship and fun and food

They get out the gate

And repopulate

When they get in the mood.

But me, I just sit on the porch

Day after lonely day

Watching birds

 Build nests on Hank

Too lazy to shoo them away.

I reckon one day I might pack

And leave this house of woe

But fields and forests

Are all I see

And I don't know where I'd go.

I  did walk down to the road last night

To stand and stare

A man in a pickup

Asked if I needed a ride

But I didn't dare.

I couldn't leave ole Hank behind

He wouldn't understand

He hasn't moved

And I don't know

If he can even stand.

He'd been with me for most my life

He was my only friend

And I swore that

I'd watch over him

Until the bitter end.

This morning I went out to feed

The chicken and the cow

And a buzzard was sitting

By a pile of bleached bones

Lawd, what has happened now?

I didn't know the dog had passed

Or how long he'd been dead

I thought that he

Had just gone gray

Though he used to be bright red.

The buzzard waved his skinny wings 

Over the place where Hank was laying

He bowed his head

 And I realized

That the both of us was praying.

The chicken and the cow stood by

With a solemn moo and cluck

And I shed a tear

And said, Ya'll stay here

I've got to go catch that truck!

©by Voo

June 16, 2012

10:48 p.m.