Black and White

I sat up late with a Shoot-em-up

While the wife went off to bed,

There was a time I’d have joined her, but

She only had sleep in her head.

There was Gabby Hayes and a guy called Clint

Holed up in a barn, in Mo.,

And blasting away at the barn outside

Was an evil guy, called Joe.

 

I knew which was the good and the bad

Though they each wore a Stetson hat,

For Hayes and Clint’s were a pearly white

While this evil Joe’s was black.

He’d robbed the Stage, and hidden the loot

In the barn, where the good guys lay,

He yelled, ‘You’d better throw out them sacks,

If not, then you’d better pray!’

 

‘The Sheriff will come and kick your butt,’

Rang out the voice of Clint,

‘I’ll say, Dadburned if he don’t,’ said Hayes

‘You’re a pesky, bad varmint!’

Then it ended, as the old westerns did

With Joe laid out on a slab,

Though he starred again in a hundred films

He was always labelled bad.

 

I went out onto the porch to smoke

It was warm, a summer night,

While the Southern Cross shone up above

In the Milky Way, so bright,

And I pondered then on a single line

That Joe had snarled, to connive,

‘If you don’t throw out them sacks right now

You’ll never get out alive!’

 

The world is full of the likes of Joe

Who threaten and rob, and steal,

While the rest of us are lying low

And living a life that’s real.

But he said one thing that applies to us

To the bad and the good that strive,

Whatever the sort of life you live

You’ll never get out alive!’

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Becky C Strukamp]

David, you bring so much to the table when you write. This story weaves in and out of reality, suspense and the ways of time long gone yet maybe not as much as we think. I also enjoy the way you begin with using yourself as a subject and through your eyes we are blessed by the story you weave so well. And as life would have it that last sentence will forevermore be the absolute truth.

[Ayushi]

"Whatever the sort of life you live
You’ll never get out alive!"
Great message through a simple story..

[Woody]

wonderful. like all the others. such a treat.
and that little gem: she only had sleep in her head.

[A Soap Mess Stories]

Another great story...haven't read or watched to many westerns...excellent write...

[Mark]

Wonder who it was that first established that 'black hat/white hat" convention, and why the NAACP never grabbed onto it as something else to rant over? O'course, in the world of B/W movies, choices were doubtless limited, as everything BUT black or white would be some shade of grey...and there, after much meandering, is the core meaning I've been delving for: be certain you're clear when representing yourself, or you're liable to get shot at by BOTH sides; GREY tells no-one NUTHIN"!

[Lena M. P.]

That was too funny. A couple of John Waynes ended with him dying but not many. I loved the last stanza.

[Marie]

Funny. I've watched many westerns, and they all ended the same way--Joe on a slab. But no matter how many times he got shot or hung, he always caem back to do more evil.

Hank Williams sang a sone once called "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive." And we don't

[Claire in VA]

So true. No matter what type of life we lead,
our physical bodies end up dead. This makes
me think of the popular saying, "nothing in this
world is certain except death and taxes."
~~~~~Claire

[Matching Socks]

Really enjoyed this! I like your style.

[Laura Ashley Lord]

I love it! What a fantastic story. I couldn't help cracking a smile at these lines,
"While the wife went off to bed,
There was a time I’d have joined her, but
She only had sleep in her head."

Loved every bit of it.