BUNKHOUSE CHRISTMAS

"Twas Christmas Eve out on the ranch, and all the winter crew
Was settin' 'round the bunkhouse fire with nothin' else to do
But let their fancies wander on the thoughts of Christmas chuck,
And what they'd like the best to eat if just they had the luck
To set down to a table where the feast was laid so thick
That all they'd have to do was reach to take their choice and pick.

Young Sleepy Kid, the wrangler, claims he'd love a stummick-ache
From stuffin' steady half a day on choclit frosted cake.
"A slab of turkey breast," smacks Pete, "an' good ol' punkin pie!"
"I'd reach fer oyster dressin'!" Lobo Luther heaves a sigh.
"It ain't no Christmas feast for me," says little Charlie Moss,
"Without brown turkey gravy and some red cranberry sauce!"
"Mince pie!" avers ol' Swaller-Fork. "The kind my ma could make.
It beats your punkin forty ways- and also choclit cake!"

So each they named their fancy, till their chops began to drip,
Then ol' Pop Williams gives a snort and rubs his crippled hip.
He hitches to the window, sorter sizin' up the night.
"Well, boys," he says, "it's Christmas Eve, and if I figger right,
That snows too deep to travel, so before I hit the hay,
Upon the subject now in hand I'll have my little say.
It ain't what's in your stummick that's the most important part,
It's the feelin's of your gizzard, or in other words, your heart.
A-doin others kindness is the road to Christmas cheer,
But that, of course, ain't possible, the way we're snowbound here.

It looks like all that we can do for our good Christmas deed
Is hustle all the livestock in and give 'em extry feed.
To hungry cows an extry fork of hay will seem as nice
As when a hungry cowboy finds a raisin in his rice.
And as for favorite Christmas chuck, I'll name mine now, to wit:
It's beef and beans and biskits- 'cause I know that's what we'll get!"

S. Omar Barker; rancher, forest ranger, legislator, etc.; The Cattleman's Steak Book, 1967, Carol Truax and S. Omar Barker.
@cowboy