Burrito Boy

Here's a poem I wrote a couple years back that I recently entered in a poetry contest at my local library. It's a cowboy poem I was inspired to write after reading an anthology of Robert E. Howard's western stories titled The End of the Trail. I didn't win the contest - didn't even get an honorable mention - but I figure the poem is worth posting for people to read.



The End of the Trail



From the moment I drew breath,
my partner was Death
and of killing I've never been shy.


Some men faint away
when you have them at bay
and I don't understand why.


If they believe what they've read,
they know when they're dead
they'll go to that ranch in the sky.


But my favorite truth
is a tooth for a tooth
and an eye for an eye.


When they run me to ground
I won't back down;
not when it's my time to die.


With a gun in my hand
I'll make my stand
and spit in the Devil's eye.


With a Rebel yell
I'll go down into Hell
and make the demons cry.


For there never was a cowboy
who got such joy
from murder as have I.



Copyright © 2008 by Josh Van Diest. All rights reserved. Plagiarists will be shot down in cold blood.