Pastor Miller-Riverside, Ca.1969

THE COWBOY'S DREAM

Last night as I lay on the prarie,

And looked ata the stars in the sky

I wondered if ever a cowboy

Would drift to the sweet by and by.

The road to that bright, happy region

Is a dim, nararow trail, so they say

But the broad one that leads to perdition

Is posted and blazed all the way.

They say there will be a great roundup,

And cowboys like dogies will stand,

To be marked by the riders of judgement

Who are posted and know every brand.

I know there's many a stray cowboy

Who'll be lost at the great, final sale,

When he might have gone to green pastures

Had he known of the dim, narrow trail.

I wondere if ever a cowboy

Stood ready for that judgement day,

And could say to the Boss of the Riders,

"I'm ready come drive me away."

For they , like the cows that are locoed,

Stampede at the sight of a hand,

And are dragged with a rope to the roundup,

Or get marked with some crooked man's brand.

And I'm scared that I'll be a stray yearling-

A maverick, umbranded on high-

And get cut in the bunch with the "rusties"

When the Boss of the Riders go by.

For they tell of another big owner

Whose never overstocked, so they say,

But who always make room for the sinner

Who drifts from the strait, narrow way.

They say he will never forget you,

That he knows every action and look:

So, for safety, you'd better be branded,

Have your name in the great Tally Book.

Chorus

Roll on,roll on;

Roll on, little dogies, roll on, roll on,

Roll on, roll on;

Roll on, little dogies, roll on.

-John Avery Lomax