TIM KAUFFROATH
Pennsylvania
About Tim Kauffroath
Range Rhymin'
"How do you rhyme so?" the lady asked
with eyes 'a questionin light
"Shucks Ma'am," the cowboy said
"They just sorta ride in on the night."
"I'll be lyin in my bedroll
a gazin at the stars
Far away from folks and towns,
them city streets and cars
Then on that gentle night time breeze
A thought or phrase arrives,
Followed by 'Poetic' words
in those prairie lullabies
Then more lines and phrases I'll behold
Writ in stardust on the moon
While the night birds and the coyotes
Set the meter with their tune
And when the sky turns inky black
just 'fore dawn's iridescent hue
I'll light my fire and contemplate
a final verse or two
Now the sunrise casts its rays
upon a glorious frosty morn
Each crystal prism seems to shout,
'A brand new poem is born!'
So just as sure as skies are blue,
And fallen snowflakes glisten,
Those poems are there for anyone
Who'll take the time to listen."
The Lady said, "Well that may be,
But surely, I'd suppose.
It takes a special talent to turn
'Poetry' from 'Prose.'"
The cowboy nodded his assent
Knowin what she said was true,
"But also Inspiration and that's
what I get from you.
The greatest talent is to listen
to what other people say
Then re-arrange their very words
In a 'Rhymey' sorta way
And no matter what the subject,
In sky, or land, or sea.
There's poetry in each and all
If you'll listen carefully"
Yet the cowboy's heart was filled with joy
To think that she would care
For his "poetic" offerings
This kindly lady fair
How thoughts of her would fill his mind
Whilst ridin out alone
And soon they'd turn some thing she'd said
Into another poem
"Now thank you for your kindly words
Such friends are far too few
And folks I hope you'll understand
That this here poem's for you
It's sorta my way of sayin thanks
for the takin of your time
To listen to a cowboy,
Who's tryin hard to Rhyme!"
© 2005, Tim Kauffroath
This poem may not be reprinted or reposted without the author's written permission.
This poem is also posted with our Poems about Cowboy Poetry.
About Tim Kauffroath:
Tim was born and raised in Arizona, a fourth-generation westerner who still recalls the lonesome call of the coyotes at night and stars as big as dinner plates out on his grandfather's ranch.
His great grandfather followed trail herds from Texas to Montana and the tales he heard as a boy fueled his love for history and the West (old and new). As life's trail wandered on, he felt a desire to help preserve the
heritage and expose the new generations to the wonders of the west and so he began performing traditional western music and rhyme for folks from coast to coast and on in to Canada.
A keen interest in history has also occasioned visits to many civil war battlefields and resulted in his writing poems on that conflict as well.
Tim divides his "spare time" between writing, singing, making cowboy gear from leather that he calls "working works of art" and silversmithing.
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