The Last Cowboy

they say he's just another okie
out of place in the city like
Hank Williams would have been
in Reno, Nevada
he's traded in his horse
for a run down car
no six guns strapped to his side
just a used guitar slung over his back

the smell of beer and Saturday night
brawls has replaced the cow shit
that once covered the trail
that now leads only to another
endless bar

just another okie they say
or perhaps the last cowboy
left in America

you can find him any night
of the week with a beer can
in his hand strumming
his guitar for fifteen bucks
and all the beer you can drink
his face hasn't lost its smile
he still holds dreams
in that silver throat that
sing out songs to greet the
early morning light
over these hardened streets
shaped like sandbags
around the soul

-- A.D. Winans