|
'Pa, she's a-comin', go get ma,
|
1 |
|
see that line of dust smokin' the horizon?
|
2 |
|
right on time, just like Wells Fargo'.
|
3 |
|
|
|
|
The denizens from far and wide
|
4 |
|
had blown into town ready to welcome
|
5 |
|
this eyepoppin' starspangled show.
|
6 |
|
|
|
|
Sure enough – stagecoach pulled
|
7 |
|
by four fine stallions swayed down
|
8 |
|
the dusty road, slowing to the speed
|
9 |
|
|
|
|
of a staggering, drunken cowpoke
|
10 |
|
with a bellyful of Teepee beer.
|
11 |
|
Painted on the side in old gold, red and blue,
|
12 |
|
|
|
|
'The Great Wild West Show's Grand Tour
|
13 |
|
of the States – here today with no fewer
|
14 |
|
than eleven great stars, fallen straight from Heaven'
|
15 |
|
|
|
|
Wyatt Earp, Doc Halliday, Billy the Kid,
|
16 |
|
Roy and Trigger, the James Boys, Annie Oakley,
|
17 |
|
John Wayne, Calamity Jayne,Gabby Hayes
|
18 |
|
|
|
|
Doris Day in corsets and stays, Gary Cooper;
|
19 |
|
starts at High Noon, bring your own moonshine.
|
20 |
|
'Pa – look! The Driver!' Pa looked,
|
21 |
|
|
|
|
'He's dead son, shot by an arrow right
|
22 |
|
through the head'. The crowd gasped and parted,
|
23 |
|
'Elmer, you go see now'. He opened the door
|
24 |
|
|
|
|
of the coach, then rushed off to the latrine,
|
25 |
|
hands clasped to his retching throat.
|
26 |
|
Well, each one of those celebrities was stone dead,
|
27 |
|
|
|
|
blood running down arrows like ketchup.
|
28 |
|
'Does this mean there'll be no show?'
|
29 |
|
asked Wilbur, who could be a little slow.
|
30 |
|
|
|
|
'Sioux' says Pa as womenfolk averted their eyes
|
31 |
|
and grown men fainted, then 'Get Max Paxo',
|
32 |
|
(the town taxidermist) 'and tell him
|
33 |
|
|
|
|
to lay off the Tequila Twisters
|
34 |
|
an' all you ladies roll up your sleeves
|
35 |
|
and bring bleach. Everyone's gonna scrub
|
36 |
|
|
|
|
till our wrists ache. There's work to be done
|
37 |
|
to save this day.' Two moons later
|
38 |
|
when they'd finished, the stars stood,
|
39 |
|
|
|
|
stiff and starched, dead straight. They were
|
40 |
|
winched on to plinths and at a pinch,
|
41 |
|
it was hard to tell if they were alive or dead.
|
42 |
|
|
|
|
Well, the show never moved out of town
|
43 |
|
as a mark of respect. Years rolled by,
|
44 |
|
many folk went to try their luck in the City.
|
45 |
|
|
|
|
The show started to look a pretty pitiful sight,
|
46 |
|
tacky, tawdry and in need of repair,
|
47 |
|
standing somewhere in a ghost town
|
48 |
|
|
|
|
playing host only to a dustbowl
|
49 |
|
wind. The stars were tended
|
50 |
|
by Pa's great great grandsons and even
|
51 |
|
|
|
|
they couldn't manage to scrape the dust
|
52 |
|
from the wrinkled canyons on those famous faces,
|
53 |
|
whose fingers still pointed onward, to the West,
|
54 |
|
|
|
|
staring, glassy-eyed at a far-off dream,
|
55 |
|
bathed each night in glacial starlight; a far-away
|
56 |
|
dream that had long ago died.
|
57 |