He'd been a buckaroo of note for nigh on sixty years,
But now the time had come for him to leave this vale of tears!
He said, "Now wife please leave me for I wish to ponder some
of all that I've accomplished, and what is soon to come."

He lay there in his solitude, his thoughts began to flow,
when his nose was tweaked by an aroma from the kitchen just below!
"My wifes bakin some cookies all full of choclit chips!" 
The thought of those sweet morsels brought saliva to his lips.

With all the strength left in him he rolled down off the bed,
crawled out to the hallway and on the door frame struck his head!
When down the stairs he tumbled and at the bottom in a heap,
thought when I was a much younger man them suckers weren't that steep!

To the kitchen he made his way an anguished. labored crawl
when he saw upon the table, those cookies stacked so tall.
All fresh from mothers oven, piping hot with choclit goo,
I'll make it to my mecca if it's the last thing that I do!

His hands streched out his fingers strained when almost on the prize,
when a SMACK!! came down apon his wrist and much to his surprise!
There stood his sweet beloved utering words that filled his heart with sorrow.

DON'T TOUCH A SINGLE ONE OF THEM, THEY'RE FOR THE FUNERAL TOMORROW!!

Copyright © 1999 Thom Blackbird. All rights reserved.

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He started writing lyrics when he was eight and took up the guitar at 12.
My grandfather was a great Westen music fan and Thom grew up listening to Bob Wills, The Sons of the Pioneers and a local group called Slim Bryant and the Wild Cats.

His family that raised working horses, and Thom gravitated to rodeos.
He spent 19 years riding Bareback and saddle Bronc throughout the Southeast and into East Texas and Oklahoma. He's worked cattle in South
Dakota and Nevada, and for the last 19 years he's been with the USDA Soil
Conservation Service (NRCS). He lives in Anchorage Alaska and works in about two thirds of the state with Alaskan Native villages and tribes on resource issues.

He has a wife and three children, one girl and two boys. About three years ago his ten-year-old started to Thom.  The youngster does trick shooting, Dad holds baloons while son pops em out of his hands and mouth. 

Thom also a Cherokee Story teller and keeps alive that tradition passed on to him by his father's people.  He has performed across the Northwest and the East.  In 1995 he was a featured performer at the Elko Cowboy Poetry Gathering, which honored Indian Cowboys.