So Long, Chinook!

Chinook, you're free: there's plenty pasture there: Your gallant years have earned you more ... and yet .. Go on and graze! Don't stand like that and stare! Now quit your nosing! No, I'll not forget. You want some sugar? Lady's horse you are! I reckon I've spoiled you. Some would say, 'A pet, that lazies by the corral bar, Rubbing his mane and switching flies all day. Chinook, they did n't know you as a colt: We were some young and wild in those days, Chinook! They never tamed a foot-loose thunderbolt That pawed a star down, every jump he took. Here now--my pocket's empty! Drift along. Your saddle's off. Now can't you understand We've made the last ride, sung the last old song? They signed our warrant when they fenced this land. Doggone it! This is not a funeral. I've turned you loose for good, old horse; you're free. Why don't you kick and squeal and act like--well, Perhaps you feel it's tough to quit -- like me. Say, if you will keep nosing me, why, there! Listen! Do you remember how she came Laughing--a rosebud pretty in her hair, And I reached down? And how you played the game? You, fire and trouble! that day you stood still For once: and I was lucky. And that night I turned you loose to graze on Flores hill: The yucca never bloomed so tall and white! Young days, young ways, and many trails to ride, And Romance tugging at the bridle-rein: Chinook, and if we swung a bit aside, We always found the old home trail again. And here we are! I reckon we're both free: No wonder that you stand like that and look So solemn and wise. What's wrong with me? I'm talking wild, to-day, So long, Chinook!