That Old Tally Book

August roared in here the other day, just as cool and calm as you could ask for.

That is, if you are asking for Texas summertime. Of course, it is plenty warm an dry, why I recollect back in 2014, Stella and I headed west to Arizona just to cool down from our Marlin heat!

I planned to be able to recite several poems at the Arizona Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Prescott, AZ. We also got to meet the western artist, Marless Fellows. She was publishing a coffee table book of her art that will include six of my poems that I wrote specifically for the paintings that they describe. Our ol’ Pards, J.C. and Donna Penney was there also. When J.C. is not fishing or golfing, he can scratch down a decent poem and he has nine poems included in her book. It was a great time listening to good cowboy music and poems while we enjoyed the company of many of the friends that we have been privileged to meet over the years. I got to recite the poem I am including today, “That Old Tally Book.” It describes an artwork, “Cowboys Journal” by Marless Fellows that was picked as the subject of the Arizona Cowboy Poetry Gathering’s 2014 poster. My young bride Stella and I looked forward to this time when we were able to revisit our western heritage and swap yarns with some fine folks. Some of them have a lot to say! My Ol’ Daddy would always say, “Feed a feller biscuits, beef, an’ beans around a campfire coffeepot, an’ he’s liable to talk yore ear off!”

THAT OLD TALLY BOOK I nooned in what shade I could find, my ol’ pony shore needed a blow.

They was still lotsa daylight left, so we’d rest up a spell, then we’d go. I reached into my saddlebag, drawed out an old tally book, with pages, dog eared an’ worn.

Opened the cover to take a look.

It had sketches of brands an’ such that had been seen here on this range.

An’ a poem or two scratched here an’ there ‘bout stories that would never change.

These stories were from Great Grandpa’s hard, rugged life in days of old.

This tally book was his life’s record, with the amazin’ tales that it told.

That old gent brought the word of the Lord to those that had settled this land.

He married some an’ buried some, with the Bible held in his hand.

He passed that book to Papa Hop, who was a Ranger, at that time.

He used that same ol’ tally book, tho it was sorta passed its prime.

I grew up on this Texas ranch, with Grandpa in his later years I learned what it took to be a man an’ just how to face my fears.

Then Papa Hop give me that book, after he’d filled the pages some, with things he’d done in his career an’ the tough times he’d overcome.

So now I sit to jot my notes, but often stop to turn the page, an’ relive those days of yesteryear, a life that never seems to age.

Ahhh…that dog eared ol’ tally book had shore ‘nuff been through thick an’ thin.

She toted quiet a history, an’ some things would shore make you grin. But, there were serious things too, ‘bout hard times an’ when things went wrong.

‘Course there was maps an’ lotsa brands, an’ words to a funeral song.

But the blessings from that tally book, Were the stories from long ago.

‘Bout how the Good Lord would guide their path,

an’ keep them safe from every foe. So I sit an’ relish the silence as I scratch down another line.

An’ live again that yesteryear when my ancestors left their sign.

© Ol’ Jim Cathey

Join us at First Baptist Church Marlin for some good country preaching!

God bless each of you and God Bless America!