Just 3 Silver Rings Smiling From Sun and Wind Burnt Skin

They watched me say goodbye to so many pieces of my life.
They reflected the sun as well as my tears.
They've been worn so roughly by rawhide, horsehair and pain.
Blood has coated their edges, they've never been let to tarnish.
They've been heated and frozen and seen all manner of weather.
They've been watching as romance unfolds.
They've witnessed wounds dressed, they've weaved braids into cowboygirls' hair.
They've held hands with a sister, a brother and a friend.
But they are just silver.
They smile through the dust of the branding trap.
They've held close to cotton gloves, athletic tape, nylon, poly and grass.
They are the accomplice to nail polish, and they find no fear in the life I love.
They've covered country far and wide.
They've weaved in the manes of horses all over the west.
They kissed this country goodnight time and time again.
They know more than I can ever tell.
They and their secrets are are drifting off with me again.
They're just 3 silver rings smiling from sun and wind burnt skin.

Have a fantastic Sunday all!!! 

~Wooden Heeled Boots On Hospital Tile~

Wooden Heeled Boots On Hospital Tile

It's only a matter of time before wooden heeled boots ring on hospital tile,
before a cowboy lays in a bed with white sheets.
A love for the life and the horses is worth the pain,
the sacrifice and and the tears.
God's light shines through the eyes of children,
in the eyes of those who ride the rank ones
and all who dance with loops a horseback.
A cowboy lacks the ability to quit,
to give up, give in or pull out behind the chutes.
He has too much grit,
too much pride,
too much responsibility, honesty and heart.
Though covered in white clothe bandages and blood,
he lies an example of God's creation,
of God's cowboy.
None could ever count the times he cried for a horse,
his child or his love.
None could ever count the unknown favors he's done,
nor the times that he rode the rough one,
so his little girl and her momma were safely set on his pride and joy.
He is the smile in the branding trap.
But just the same,
it's only a matter of time before pain comes calling
or something goes wrong.
It's only a matter of time before bones and hearts break alike.
But there is a brute strength about a cowboy,
a will to live that is as strong as any medication.
There is hope in the Lord.
Pain cannot stop love,
tears may make rivers but horses can swim.
There's more to live for than dust.
There's smiling blue eyes and happy little curls,
there's buckin horses and long manes,
there's calves and poly ropes to be thrown.
There's babies smiling at daddy
and a big hand holding a little girl upon the backs of horses.
There's more to live for cowboy.
It's only a matter of time before wooden heeled boots ring on hospital tile,
before a cowboy rises from a bed with white sheets
because of the cowboy hats praying in the lobby.

Gussie

Dry and Scarred and Littered With Silver Rings. . . .

They're callused and cracked and left unmanicured.

They are hang nail ridden and the polish is half worn off.

They've doctored calves, cut calves and played nurse on horses' legs.

They've been burned and they have been painted up red and pink and spritzed with glitter.

They are and have been bloodied and beaten and they take a rest tonight with cuts and tears where skin should be tied.

They've been gloved with cotton and taped with any assortment to keep skin in place.

Pinkies have been broke, have been ripped clean to the muscle.

Golden skin has been burnt red and shivering in the cold.

They're dry and scarred and littered with silver rings.

They've been licked by cowdog pups, oiled saddles old and new alike and sharpened knives for  the branding trap.

They hold poly and nylon coils, they dally in the heat and cold, wind and pain.

They've held the hand of a love and wiped the tears from reddened cheeks.

They are tough and possibly not approved of, but they are the hands of a cowboygirl.

Hugs, Gussie