Her Brow Was Like The Snowdrift

Cowboy Celtic/Waddie Mitchell/Don Edwards: Annie Laurie /A Bad Half Hour...2010 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Elko, Nevada


wonder why I feel so restless
moon is shining still and bright
cattle all are resting easy
but I just can't sleep tonight
ain't no cactus in my blankets
don't know why they feel so hard
unless it's Warbling Jim a-singing
"Annie Laurie" out on guard

"Annie Laurie"--wish he'd quit it
couldn't sleep now if I tried
makes the night seem big and lonesome
and my throat feels sore inside
how my Annie used to sing it
and it sounded good and gay
nights I drove her home from dances
when the east was turning gray

yes, her brow was like the snowdrift
and her eyes like quiet streams
and her face--I still can see it
much too frequent in my dreams
and her hand was soft and trembly
that night underneath the tree
when I couldn't help but tell her
she was all the world to me

but her folks said I was shiftless
wild and unsettled-—they were right
for I leaned to punching cattle
and I'm at it still tonight
when she married young Doc Wilkins
oh my Lord, but that was hard
wish that fool would quit his singing
"Annie Laurie" out on guard

oh I just can't stand it thinking
of the things that happened then
good old times, and all apast me
never seem to come again
my turn? sure, I'll come a-running
warm me up some coffee, pard
but I'll stop that Jim from singing
"Annie Laurie" out on guard

--Badger Clark