A Good Name
Posted: June 13th, 2008, 4:18 pm
A Good Name
Geronimo was too rich
to be believed
with his no smile wife
& his thin in the ribs pony
you knew by looking
that he had eaten lizards & snakes
roasted or raw
while on the run had drank from cactus
or licked the morning dew off
a stone in passing
a fair player to a fault
spanish, mexican, or gringo
he shot them all alike
but let their horses live
to sell back later or trade for
bullets & food
he was a practicing romantic
with the lightning strikes
and fast fades
he believed in living as
his fathers lived
scorning justification
as he had never sinned
frightened young girls laughed at his toothlessness
young men envied the rifle in his saddle scabbard
he made a page of his own in his enemy's history books
men still call out his name in english
when they jump
into the sky
Geronimo was too rich
to be believed
with his no smile wife
& his thin in the ribs pony
you knew by looking
that he had eaten lizards & snakes
roasted or raw
while on the run had drank from cactus
or licked the morning dew off
a stone in passing
a fair player to a fault
spanish, mexican, or gringo
he shot them all alike
but let their horses live
to sell back later or trade for
bullets & food
he was a practicing romantic
with the lightning strikes
and fast fades
he believed in living as
his fathers lived
scorning justification
as he had never sinned
frightened young girls laughed at his toothlessness
young men envied the rifle in his saddle scabbard
he made a page of his own in his enemy's history books
men still call out his name in english
when they jump
into the sky