A Cowboy's Prayer

Oh Lord. I've never lived where churches grow
I've loved creation better as it stood
That day you finished it so long ago
And looked upon your work and called it good

Just let me live my life as I've begun
And give me work that's open to the sky
Make me a partner of the wind and sun
And I won't ask for a life that's soft and high

Make me as big and open as the Plains
As honest as the horse between my knees
Clean as the wind that blows behind the rains
Free as the hawk that circles the breeze

Just keep and eye on all that's done and said
Just write me sometime when I turn aside
And guide me on that long, dim travel ahead
That stretches up toward the great divide.

-Badger Clark