The whispering white crept through the night
The cold gnawed right to the bone
The eerie hue of cobalt blue
Gave shadows a life of their own

The rider and horse stayed their course
Ice drooped from bridle and brim
While waves of snow continued to grow
Making trails heavy and dim

Vapors were steamin' and lungs were screamin'
Icy spears penetrated inside
Limbs paid the cost as fingers of frost
Gave warmth no place to hide

Toward they surged and soon emerged
In a labyrinth of pine scented bough
A welcome respite from the hellish cold night
Where the norther continued to howl

Out of the weather he unhitched the leather
And of branches he made a soft bed
His thirst was slaked from the melting of flakes
The warming flames danced orange and red

Another dusk; another dawn, the storm raged on
A savage but hypnotic symphony
A wild moan and whistle that made life bristle
Entombed in all that white canopy

The winter has passed, it's spring at long last
Summer's heat has made its yearly call
And night becomes longer; winds seem to get stronger
Caressing trees and leaves start to fall

Old Sol in the sky marks years passing by
A century has come and gone
A Bible's pages have yellowed through ages
Listing those born and those who've passed on

A blurred entry remarked on page three
Of a grandfather missing along the way
Never resolved and this mystery unsolved
Puzzles all to this very day

In a thicket of pine grown up over time
Rest the bones of horse and rider unknown
And in the cold of December folks pause to remember
A cowboy who didn't get home.