On the Edge of Common Sense

Life is a Compromise

by Baxter Black

They tell me that Walter is smokin' again.

But life is a compromise.

He's tried to kill himself so many ways,

The heart's not a surprise.

I guess he's lucky they found him in time--

Was close, I understand.

Pickups on dirt roads at breakneck speeds,

would have killed a lesser man.

The nurses said he was pleasant at times...

When he was anethsetized.

But alas, he relapsed back to normal,

His arteries revulcanized.

It was awful to watch his recovery.

His forced marches down by the wood.

Striding along in his tennies and

He's quit eating everything good.

Begrudgingly he's getting better.

Got horseback but some things have changed.

He's growing a beard and he's writing

His memoirs out on the range.

He's givin' the kids a little more slack,

At runnin' the home ranch outfit.

Of course, they threatened to leave him next time,

If he didn't back off a bit.

So he's still the biggest buck in the herd

And goes around leavin' his scrape,

And he's buglin' some...but he's careful now

'Bout who he gets bent out of shape.

So, the fact I hear that he's smokin' again

Is sort of what I would expect.

With his rebuilt heart he's prob'ly deduced

There's nothin' left to protect.

I asked if his doctors agreed with his scheme,

He said, "Nope, their warnings were stern,

Said sooner or later they'd see me again...

But they said they wouldn't be near as concerned."

Published in Western Horseman August 1999 p. 192