Sky Country Spirit - Winner of the Lakeside Library Poetry Contest 2013

This was written for the Lakeside Poetry Contest of 2013 which asked adult entrants to write about cowboys.  I wrote to remind people today of the spirit they embraced and shared, and won the contest.  This is written for all the contestants, especially the students, who showed their spirit of bringing new ideas into life.  I was especially inspired by a blind student who wrote, entered, and showed the power of vision through the heart.  May we all embrace and share the Sky Country Spirit.

There was a time,

Of open spaces,

There was a breed,

Just see their faces,

Eyes that see forever,

Skin tempered by the weather,

Knowing freedom of the land,

Their lives in their firm hands,

They were one of a kind,

Men defining their time,

Riding hard with heart,

Sitting by the fire flame,

They were a breed apart,

Not one of them the same,

They lived on the edge,

Between man and wild,

When tamed by their hand,

Mustangs became mild,

An unspoken song,

Binding their hearts,

A truth unsaid,

Would never depart,

Upon their horses,

Beneath the sun,

The stuff of legend,

The West was won,

Though highways now cross,

The land which they rode,

And the cities we built,

Have become our abode,

Upon the mountain side,

I stand beside my bride,

And it never takes me long,

Before I hear their song,

You must be still to hear it,

And breathe Sky Country Spirit.