|
He sees the world
From an A fork tree.
Approved by the association,
Not for you and me.
An ol’ bronk saddle,
Custom built for the trade.
Made for bad buckers,
Not a parade.
He sits up there
Like a king on a throne.
Buckin’ rein in one hand,
He could talk on the phone.
At the end of July,
He’s top of the list.
If that Aussie catches up,
I’ll surely be pissed.
‘Cause he’s a genuine cowboy
And a gentleman too.
He’ll shake your hand
And visit with you.
If your lady is with you,
It’s most certain that,
She’ll get from Tom
A tip of his hat.
Born in South Dakota
Out from Eagle Butte.
He’ll ride any bronk
They’ll put in a chute.
Cowboy Christmas is over.
The season’s half done.
So far it’s been
A mighty fine run.
I just bought my tickets
For the NFR.
They’re sittin’ there,
In the top dresser drawer.
The plane ticket is ordered.
On that fine plastic card.
I’m goin’ to Vegas
And root for my pard.
I know he can ride
Any horses they buck.
But I just got to be there,
And wish him GOOD LUCK!!!!!
© David J. Dill
, Aug. 05, 2001
In 2001 at the Texas Circuit Finals
in Waco, Texas my son, grandson and I
all met Tom Reeves in the parking
lot before the rodeo. I introduced myself
to him and then
introduced him to my spawn as the most famous bronk rider in
the
world. He was modest, gracious and happy to give us some of his
time.
He went on to make a really nice ride in the performance that we
saw and of
course won the Texas Circuit as he has done many times
before.
This chance meeting on the parking lot impressed me so
that I followed his
progress through the spring and summer and finally
was so hooked on the guy that I decided to go to the NFR just to see if
he was going to be able to
FINALLY win the world championship that had
eluded him the previous 17
years. As soon as I got my plans made, I
wrote this poem.
The performance I attended was round 5 and that is
the only round that ended with him being ahead in the world
standings. At the end of round 10 when Hadley Baret was
interviewing Tom on TV, Tom was so emotional that he could
barely talk
and my eyes were so full of tears that I could hardly see.
To put the
final crown on this poem, I was presenting the Christmas Program
to the
Henderson County Peace Officer's Assn. over in Athens, Texas and
the
first time I ever read this poem publicly and it got a standing
ovation.
|
