I Wish I Was Back in Kentucky wip

Up in the high country
of Wyoming
beyond the far purple
among the cedar shoots sprouting
and last July's snow
alone
a long way from home and heaven
spoke the man of despair

Kindle the fire
in the wildwood Joe
lest it be seen
kindle the fire in the wildwood Joe
bring us no wet wood
or green
no smoke on the mountain Joe
no trail on the wind

Joe spoke no word of an answer
Joe lay silent
and still
Give me just one more bullet
for my pistol Joe
I shoot straighter than you
Give me just one more bullet
for my pistol Joe
and I will be sending it
to the heart true

Up in the high county
a lonesome wind wailing
the slow sun a climbing
to the peaks snow
the man of despair
sat crying
into his empty hands

He was talking to Joe
although
he knew Joe lay silent and still
beneath the big pines over
yonder
Joe was sleeping the slow sleep
beneath Gods wet black earth
Joe was forever looking south

The lone man a crying
staring at heaven
turquoise was beckoning
his hell was in the holster
slung low on his hip
Joe has done gone over
the sad long divide
he thought

Farewell Joe
brother friend pard
I knew you well
and I never knew you
I am sorry
I somewhere lost my way
I failed
to point your turning
toward the right fork
in your trail
Time comes
and I begin that journey
into the slow sleep
I will prove up
to the trust you took in me

Oh I wish I was
back in Kentucky
he thought
I see the old red mule
a plowing on the hillside
It is early morning
and I dream of Mamas
red hot melting in your mouth
biscuits
milk cooled in a crock
brought from the spring
Tom and Salley
the two little ones
and Daddy
Oh I wish I was
back in Kentucky
I wish I was home

I see the old busted-barrel shotgun
way up on a mountain
and me
I hear a catbird meowing in a thicket
and I am walking unaware
into the face of a great horned owl
I clutch my hands
at my quickening heart
I am holding the life of a small pine tree
in my hands
I found her on a Sunday morning
her green fading to brown
as she tried to
sustain life
from the rock cliff she had fallen into
I put her in a better place
It has been twelve years
since I replanted her
She has grown big
Oh, I wish I was
back in Kentucky
I wish I was home