COWBOY

 He rides erect, tall in the saddle
On a majestically black stallion
His movements are slowly precise
A darkly black Stetson brim to the eyes
Black shirt with rhinestone motif
Bootlace tie and black silk cravat
Black snakeskin boots, Cuban heels
Who’s the man in the black
Nobody seems to know exactly

Chunky and Rugged facial features
Mountain chiselled with iron and steel
A stubble goatee frames his lips
Lips pursed they neither frown or smile
Gripping a short fat sausage like cigar
No smoke just for show it remains unlit
Two rounded piercing blue eyes
Eyes that swallow everything around them
They show no real emotional content
Despite having seen all that life throws
The good, the bad, even the downright ugly
If cool, calm and collected was an expression
Then this face held it in abundance

Pearl handled six shooters fit snugly
As does his rhinestone encrusted belt
And buckle, sitting perfectly at the waist
He is every inch the consummate cowboy
He tips his hat at giggling ladies as they pass
And stares down any potentially mean cowpoke
Looking for a reworking of the OK chorale
He makes friends with dogs and children
But avoids Indians, because, ‘you just never know’
With slow, deliberate motion he dismounts
He ties his horse to the fence next to the lamppost
He admiringly looks at his mount, strokes his mane
It never fails to amaze him, how realistic it looks
Despite that it’s made from black sprayed fibre glass

He finishes his gun totting and roping display
Much to the amusement of a small gathered crowd
Some are laughing with him, some are laughing at him
Thus ending his part in the local church gala day
But this is not the end for this cowboy
He is not just a weekend, plastic cowboy
This is how he is, all of the time
He is a man lost in time and geography
Born way too late and in the wrong continent
He is ‘Awe Day Murphy’ the 24 hour cowboy
All the way from Brigeton Cross in Glasgow
I stare intently at him in his getup
He stares intently back, unflinchingly
As if to say “do ye fell lucky, punk,
Well, do ye”