Cowboy Poet's Corner: "Welcome Rain" by Stan Tixier

Welcome Rain

By Stan Tixier, SRM Utah Section Member

A cowboy and an eastern dude,

A most unlikely pair,

Were flyin' 'cross the country,

Assigned, by chance to share

The last two seats in tourist class

On some big jet airplane,

The conversation that they had

Was mostly 'bout the RAIN.

It'd been a-pourin' steadily

For several days or so,

Across a bunch of western states,

And in New Mexico,

Where they were headin' on their flight

Most every pond and tank

Was full, the creeks and rivers there

Were runnin' bank to bank.

The dude had come to play some golf

And tennis, don't you know,

The cowboy, to participate

In some big rodeo,

So each one was affected by

Excess precipitation,

And neither of 'em could adjust

A pre-made reservation.

The eastern dude was most perturbed,

And anxious to complain

How his vacation would be spoiled

By that confounded rain,

He fumed and fussed and swore a lot

And said it wasn't fair,

They'd advertised a desert

And now a swamp was there.

The cowboy'd be impacted too

By breaks that he'd been given,

'Cause ropin' in arenas dry

Was how he made his livin',

Yet he seemed sorta' unconcerned,

Not tryin' to be rude,

He set out to explain some facts

To that frustrated dude.

He said, "You ought to understand,

This country's mostly dry,

We need this moisture to survive,

There's lots of reasons why,

So mister, don't get too upset,

Let's try to be more lenient,

'Cause RAIN is always welcome here,

But seldom is convenient!"


From the book:
A Good Lookin' Horse: Cowboy Poetry and Other Verse (1993) by Stan Tixier
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Want more cowboy poetry?  Poetry books and CDs by Stan Tixier are available for purchase from Western Heritage Company, 1-800-303-5703.  And don't worry, Cowboy Poet's Corner will continue to post to the SRM blog in coming months.