Out in the back forty
There's a tree and underneath
Is a lonely wooden marker
All it says is "Heath"
Not many really knew him
He just hung around the ranch
I remember when I found him
Hanging from that branch
He never really said much
Kept quiet most the time
Always had a smile
And he had his lucky dime
Heath was slightly slower
Not in step, but in his brain
But, that didn't really matter
For folks loved him all the same
I remember back in school
When Heath was getting teased
The only one defended him
was me...and Heath was pleased
We were bonded from that moment
We were brothers you might say
Where I was, you would find him
Until that fateful day
Folks say that the Johnson boys
Caught him down by Crindle creek
They girls were down there swimming
And they'd gone to have a peek
Heath was down there fishing
Saw the boys and gave a shout
The girls went off a runnin'
And then Heath was set about
The story gets all muddled
Since no one was around
There were six conflicting stories
On how he got hung up off the ground
The truth will be deep buried
Since only four folks know for sure
And three of them aren't telling
And Heath was number four
I rode out after supper
No one knew where Heath was at
I took out for the creek bed
And there I found his hat
From there I took off westward
Toward the tree, to spend the night
I'd head home in the morning
I'd leave at the first light
But, there was where I found him
Hanging, dead from that old tree
From what ever demons ailed him
Heath had been set free
His folks has left for Tulsa
Leaving him back at our ranch
That's where he will stay now
In the ground beneath that branch
I made a simple marker
Painted white with just his name
And even though nobody goes there
I had to let folks know he came
So out on the back forty
By the tree, yep..underneath
Sits a little, simple marker
painted white,....it just says Heath.
Oct 4, 2015
Oct 4, 2015 at 2:01 PM UTC
Out in the back forty
There's a tree and underneath
Is a lonely wooden marker
All it says is "Heath"
Not many really knew him
He just hung around the ranch
I remember when I found him
Hanging from that branch
He never really said much
Kept quiet most the time
Always had a smile
And he had his lucky dime
Heath was slightly slower
Not in step, but in his brain
But, that didn't really matter
For folks loved him all the same
I remember back in school
When Heath was getting teased
The only one defended him
was me...and Heath was pleased
We were bonded from that moment
We were brothers you might say
Where I was, you would find him
Until that fateful day
Folks say that the Johnson boys
Caught him down by Crindle creek
They girls were down there swimming
And they'd gone to have a peek
Heath was down there fishing
Saw the boys and gave a shout
The girls went off a runnin'
And then Heath was set about
The story gets all muddled
Since no one was around
There were six conflicting stories
On how he got hung up off the ground
The truth will be deep buried
Since only four folks know for sure
And three of them aren't telling
And Heath was number four
I rode out after supper
No one knew where Heath was at
I took out for the creek bed
And there I found his hat
From there I took off westward
Toward the tree, to spend the night
I'd head home in the morning
I'd leave at the first light
But, there was where I found him
Hanging, dead from that old tree
From what ever demons ailed him
Heath had been set free
His folks has left for Tulsa
Leaving him back at our ranch
That's where he will stay now
In the ground beneath that branch
I made a simple marker
Painted white with just his name
And even though nobody goes there
I had to let folks know he came
So out on the back forty
By the tree, yep..underneath
Sits a little, simple marker
painted white,....it just says Heath.
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