On this, the first day of the year,
I’m wishing you were here.
Time for the resolution
before the inevitable dissolution.
Time for the promises
before the loving kisses.
Time to hitch up the breeches,
to pull off the leeches.
Time, in short, for changes,
at home and on the ranges,
where cowpokes keep track
of the strays who hang back
and the roundup that’s coming
of the unbranded and unbecoming.
Robert Forrey, 1/1/17
