Old Spookses' Pass



I.
    WE'D camped that night on Yaller Bull Flat,--
      Thar was Possum Billy, an' Tom, an' me.
    Right smart at throwin' a lariat
      Was them two fellers, as ever I see;
    An' for ridin' a broncho, or argyin' squar
      With the devil roll'd up in the hide of a mule,
    Them two fellers that camp'd with me thar
      Would hev made an' or'nary feller a fool.
   II.
    Fur argyfyin' in any way,
     Thet hed to be argy'd with sinew an' bone,
   I never see'd fellers could argy like them;
     But just right har I will hev to own
   Thet whar brains come in in the game of life,
     They held the poorest keerds in the lot;
   An' when hands was shown, some other chap
     Rak'd in the hull of the blamed old pot!
   III.
   We was short of hands, the herd was large,
     An' watch an' watch we divided the night;
   We could hear the coyotes howl an' whine,
     But the darned critters kept out of sight
   Of the camp-fire blazin'; an' now an' then
     Thar cum a rustle an' sort of rush--
   A rattle a-sneakin' away from the blaze,
     Thro' the rattlin', cracklin' grey sage bush.
   IV.
   We'd chanc'd that night on a pootyish lot,
     With a tol'ble show of tall, sweet grass--
   We was takin' Speredo's drove across
     The Rockies, by way of  "Old Spookses' Pass"--
   An' a mite of a creek went crinklin' down,
     Like a "pocket" bust in the rocks overhead,
   Consid'able shrunk, by the summer drought,
     To a silver streak in its gravelly bed.
   V.
   'Twas a fairish spot fur to camp a' night;
     An' chipper I felt, tho' sort of skeer'd
   That them two cowboys with only me,
     Couldn't boss three thousand head of a herd.
   I took the fust of the watch myself;
     An' as the red sun down the mountains sprang,
   I roll'd a fresh quid, an' got on the back
     Of my peart leetle chunk of a tough mustang.
   VI.
   An' Possum Billy was sleepin' sound
     Es only a cowboy knows how to sleep;
   An' Tommy's snores would hev made a old
     Buffalo bull feel kind o' cheap.
   Wal, pard, I reckin' thar's no sech time
     For dwind'lin' a chap in his own conceit,
   Es when them mountains an' awful stars,
     Jest hark to the tramp of his mustang's feet.
   VII.
   It 'pears to me that them solemn hills
     Beckin' them stars so big an' calm,
   An' whisper, "Make tracks this way, my friends,
     We've ringed in here a specimen man;
   He's here alone, so we'll take a look
     Thro' his ganzy an' vest, an' his blood an' bone,
   An post ourselves as to whether his heart
     Is flesh, or a rotten, made-up stone."
   VIII.
   An' it's often seemed, on a midnight watch,
     When the mountains blacken'd the dry, brown sod,
   That a chap, if he shut his eyes, might grip
     The great kind hand of his Father-God.
   I rode round the herd at a sort of walk--
     The shadders come stealin' thick an' black;
   I'd jest got to leave tew thet thar chunk
     Of a mustang tew keep in the proper track.
   IX.
   Ever see'd a herd ring'd in at night?
     Wal, it's sort of cur'us,-- the watchin' sky,
   The howl of coyotes a great black mass,
     With thar an' thar the gleam of a eye
   An' the white of a horn an', now an' then,
     An' old bull liftin' his shaggy head,
   With a beller like a broke-up thunder growl--
     An' the summer lightnin', quick an' red,
   X.
   Twistin' an' turnin' amid the stars,
     Silent as snakes at play in the grass,
   An' plungin' thar fangs in the bare old skulls
     Of the mountains, frownin' above the Pass.
   An' all so still, that the leetle crick,
     Twinklin' an' crinklin' frum stone to stone,
   Grows louder an' louder, an' fills the air
     With a cur'us sort of a singin' tone.
   It ain't no matter wharever ye be,
    (I'll 'low it's a cur'us sort of case)
   Whar thar's runnin' water, it's sure to speak
     Of folks tew home an' the old home place;
   XI.
   An' yer bound tew listen an' hear it talk,
     Es yer mustang crunches the dry, bald sod;
   Fur I reckin' the hills, an' stars, an' creek
     Are all of 'em preachers sent by God.
   An' them mountains talk tew a chap this way:
     "Climb, if ye can, ye degenerate cuss!"
   An' the stars smile down on a man, an say,
     "Come higher, poor critter, come up tew us!"
   XII.
   An' I reckin', pard, thar is One above
     The highest old star that a chap can see,
   An' He says, in a solid, etarnal way,
   
Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

4:05 min read
87

Quick analysis:

Scheme Text too long
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 4,308
Words 782
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 107

Isabella Valancy Crawford

Isabella Valancy Crawford was an Irish-born Canadian writer and poet. more…

All Isabella Valancy Crawford poems | Isabella Valancy Crawford Books

0 fans

Discuss the poem Old Spookses' Pass with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Old Spookses' Pass" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/19917/old-spookses'-pass>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    More poems by

    Isabella Valancy Crawford

    »

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    2
    days
    16
    hours
    10
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    Who wrote the poem "Dreams"?
    A Thomas Hardy
    B John Donne
    C Gerard Manley Hopkins
    D Langston Hughes