Outlaw Trail

Here I sit in jail

‘cause they caught me again.

In a hail of bullets

After I shot my last round

It was give up or die

So here I sit in jail.

The hanging judge

They call him,

The man I will stand in front

Of tomorrow.

Regrets that I didn’t

Run and got shot.

No anticipation of the trap door

Snapping open beneath me,

Just dead in the street,

But no regret of riding the outlaw trail.

I look out my window to the yard below

Where workers are building the scaffold

They expect me to swing from.

The day after the trial.

Their hammers crack on the nails

Sound like gunfire to my ears.

The Deputy sticks in his head,

And asks what I want for my last meal.

“What would be the best food

This town has to offer”

I answer back

“That would be it.”

“Tonight” he said

“You will settle for beans and bread.”

I turn and look back out the window,

And heard “Tomorrow you’re going to hell”

No doubt about my end,

It has been a long run to here

From killing the baster that beat my mother,

And the Fargo Express office I robbed.

More killing and stealing

Than I can remember.

But for the first asshole

Every man I shot had been trying to kill me.

Beans and bread and water

Even condemned men have to eat,

And I ate every bite

Before I lay to sleep.

Waking to the rattle of keys in the lock

“Only coffee for you this morning.

No need wasting food on a dead man”

Without a word I drank.

Into the court room I walked

Shackled hand and foot.

Charged with murder, thievery, and horse stealing

“How do you plead?” the judge asked.

“For mercy, I plead for mercy”

Looking from his eyes to my feet,

As he said

“Hang by the neck until dead!”

“You days on the outlaw trail are at an end”

He smirked and slammed his little hammer

Hard onto his desk.

“May God have mercy on your soul.”

Hands on either arm, they shoved me

Back to my cell, and took off my chains.

I heard the ringing of the slamming

Of the cell door echoing through the jail house.

Along time, an infinity of time

The sheriff came back and asked,

“Do you not care what you eat tonight?”

“No, just so long as it comes from the best place in town.”

All of the hammering was done, and the night was quite

When the Deputy bought my last meal,

Open the door, and set it on the bed,

With his gun drawn, and eyes me.

He left and I took the cover off the basket, fried chicken

I smiled as I took pieces out, how were they to know

That the love of my life worked in the best eatery in town,

And in the breast she had hid a derringer?

I ate the chicken, and sides, drank the milk,

And told the Deputy I was done.

He came in. but did not pull his gun as he gathered my mess,

And as he straighten up I put my gun in his face.

Made his drop his gun belt, and lay on the bed face down.

I locked him in, found my pistol, stole a shotgun and some shells

Walked down the stairs, and out the door

Where she waited holding two horses

They looked like good ones, like fast ones.

After a kiss, away on the outlaw trail we rode.