Riding the stage to Yuma...




Cloud Shadow Six


And always I'll

remumbuh!

remumbuh!

remumbuh!


Where my boat was

half sunk in the sand of

a Mexican trailer village in

Yuma! Yuma! Yuma!


My poorest

neighbor

in

   'de smallest trailer ~


Was 'de one

who

 with-

   out failure ~


Fed every stray

 starv-

ing

   kitty-cat ~


This remembrance lives

forever

under my

   soiled hat ~


All them straggly

little critters

 a-

   bout twenty ~


Waitin' around the

smallest trailer

for

their good n' plenty...




Cloud Shadow VII


 T'was this mornin'

when

headin' out

   fer work ~


I was not

paying attention

n' like

   a jerk ~


I stepped off the deck

of my ship

into

   Deep Desert air ~


No

more ground!

jus'

atmosphair!


Whoa,

Nelly

Bell

!!!


Was I falling falling

 in-

to

Hell?


What

a

simpleton

   was I ~


What

a

skeleton

 was I!


No more

flesh n' blood

forever

   had I ~


I fell thru

Deep Desert air

yodeling

a mad man's cry!


With a big n' full

Yellow Moon

in front of

   my screaming skull face ~


With the splashing blood

of a rising sun

behind me

   taking the full moon's place ~


I realized with a

chill

in my bone n' bone

   n' nothin' but bone ~


Now

I

was

   really alone ~


And with nothin' in

my skull

but whistling air and the

   cling-clanging of a banging bell ~


Swiftly I headed for a

crack-up on the rocks

of what seemed

to be Deep Desert hell!


There was

only

the Spiritual

   in front of me now ~


For the Material World

had finally spit

yours truly

all the way out some how...




Cloud Shadow Eight


My ex-landlady and

the Mexican hombres

stand over

   the caved-in hole ~


Where the dilapidated

old tug boat

used

   to go ~


Where ye olde ship

stole

the body

   and soul ~


Of

El

 Gring-

   o ~




El Gringo



While scratching their

heads and

rubbing their chins

   they wonder ~


Yeeeeeeeap

they

wonder

   asunder ~


Where did the

ship and

El

Gringo go?


As a chill wind

bloweth

and a rising sun

  do'ith glowwwwwww...




Cloud Shadow Nine


As I spun

'round

n'

   'round ~


Toward

the

rocky

   ground ~


My

boney

fingers

   grabbed hold ~


Of somethin'

hard

 n'

   cold ~


Now in-

stead

 of fall-

   ing, I swang ~


My

oh

my

hot dang!


A couple thousand feet

above

the rocks

   n' sand ~


I held on

tight

with one

   boney hand ~


Swing-swanging

to

 n'

   fro ~


Holding onto what

I

didn't

   know...




Cloud Shadow 10


But as the sun

riseth

I

   do'ith see ~


By

what

dangleth

   me ~


T'is

an

   anchor ~

anchors away!


Yeeeeeeeap, we

got

anudder smoooooooth

sailing day!


Fortunately at

the end

of

   a rusty old chain ~


One knuckle

click clack cracking

hand

   manages to retain ~


A grip

upon the tip

of the anchor swing-

   ing to n' fro ~


Oh wow!  Look at

all those holes in

the bottom of

   the tug that do'ith go ~


Chug

chug

chug

   chug a lug ~


About as

fast as

a

   love sick slug ~


Who cares

how

or

 why?


Across

Deep

Desert

   skyyyyyyy...




 Leaving Yuma...