Instead of working horseback and following the cow
I could be afoot behind the horse and following the plow.
Sleeping soft in a cabin, cuddling a baby, being a wife,
Clear water, and home cooking, a settled kind of life

That's far away, far, far away from the fix I'm in here now.

Here, my belly is my blanket and my back my only bed,
Stone the only pillow on which to lay my bloody head;
Can't even wallow a hip hole where I lie on solid rock.
No one to sing a sad song, no prayers, no soothing talk.

I'm so alone, so all alone, it will be a comfort to be dead.

A stumble on the rimrock; horse and me both took a spill
He's down, bad hurt and thrashing, beyond my reach to kill
To relieve his pain and misery, so I guess we share our fate
In this lonely place so far away where help will come too late.

And the relief that is my rifle is gone, long gone downhill.

Death won't be long in coming and I hope I face it brave;
That the pain will treat me gentle so I'll not rant and rave,
Cursing the God who made me, or blaming him for this fix
Let me mind, instead stay clear and resist those devil tricks.

And to the end, the very end, thank God for the life HE gave.

As clear and compelling as the clang of a dinner bell
Is the horse's futile scratching at the ground on which he fell,
So the buzzards glide and slide down a drain of azure sky
Studying the menu; watching, waiting for supper to die.

And bones, lonely bones, will be left, the story to tell.

Soon my Maker will be asking if I lived the golden rule
And wonder about my learning in HIS earthly mortal school.
I'll answer for every wicked thought that ever filled my mind
While hoping they'll be balanced by the times I acted kind

So the tally shows not evil, rather, fool' mere human fool.