Out on the track that fateful day
I had just turned to train a mile
When old man Finn, asked where I'd been
could he tag along for awhile
"Of course" I said, he turned his mare
we set out for the quarter pole
The leisured mile, we made in style
a two forty clip was the goal


Reaching the quarter then the half
we were on track to make the grade
Three quarters down, I turned around
to see Finn looked a bit afraid
His mare was at a full gallop
bitten by a horse fly I thought
Over the rail, with Finn in trail
their fates tied to the lessons taught


He'd been thrown over the withers
came down ******* the limestone track
Finn was old , but cut from the mold
of men who go forward not back
I pulled my horse up, turned around
hoping to help him if I could
He'd had a stroke, his hip was broke
he lie gasping against the wood


We then took up a collection
to help the old man convalesce
Each man knew, Finn's chances were few
as this made of his life a mess
Kind and charmed I knew him to be
five handsome young sons to his name
Sadly then, those who knew him when
said life would never be the same


I had saved a thousand dollars
a sizable sum for a lad
As I was young, my life unsung
I had given them all I had
My father threw a fit that night
"I can't believe you sometimes son
Hard as it is, in the horse biz
how can I look past what you've done"


Each of us knew the hardships then
we shared part and parcel the same
But as a boy, I took no joy
in most truths of that deadly game
I ran my horse four days later
The Finn's drove in every race
my mare in back, of the pack
that night circled the field in place


Each of them smiled as I rode by
hell they might just as well have waved
While each was as drunk, as a skunk
yet they were all so well behaved
From that night on they cared for me
I laughed as I knew I'd been played
Life was no chore, it gave back more
I was proud of the friends I’d made


Tate

Farley was twisting a new tale
his feet on the *** belly stove
There in our barn, he'd spin a yarn
piling on like a treasure trove
"You know I don't think I told you
how I won the second World War"
"Ole Ike, needed help with the *****
and he looked to me and the corps"


"Again my country called on me
Ike wanted us to break the line"
"Well I told Dwight, schedule a flight
just drop me this side of the Rhine"
"So my men and I took the field
we lay waste such a German swath"
"Led all the men, yep there and then
survived only on bread and broth"


"Well we sought no recognition
we let Ike spin his fairy tale"
"We were fine, drinking ******’s wine
just happy to blaze the trail"
Later that night Farley took watch
he had come by to check the feed
Out from the night, came a bright light
Farley happily fed their need


He claimed that he had been kidnapped
aliens from space sought him out
They had been sold, on stories told
and assumed him a man with clout
Of course he didn't go freely
he took out a dozen or two
Scared them so bad, they were all glad
to head off into the wild blue


Farley claimed many a patent
he invented all the great things
Held universities, degrees
knew all the heads of state and kings
He’d served in World War One and Two
circumnavigated the globe
Hung out on the Nile, for awhile
invented Nasa's first space probe


"You know boys" he would always say
"there are a couple things I'm not"
"Attention grabbing, back stabbing"
"though I've won every fight I've fought"
When the iced wind blew through the trees
and the cold air kept us all down
We warmed each face, at Farley’s place
where he entertained half the town


Tate

There was an old man, I once knew
Peaches was the name he used
He was the drunk, set on our trunk
his body old and abused
Sharing his beer with an old horse
who caroused in the end stall
Each day by three, they'd walk by me
and stumble but never fall

His liver was a lace doily
alcohol pickled him thin
He'd been turned down, all over town
no one ever took him in
He drank his beer with ole Nellie
she could tip a bottle too
Swig and sway,  like Don Quixote
as they staggered, swirling, brew

We were headed for the races
this blustery afternoon
Each planned the trip, we had to ship
I knew we'd be leaving soon
From where we trained at the fairground
we carted them to the track
Where all would race, and take what place
each earned in front or in back

Peaches rode in back of the truck
so he could drink the whole way
My uncle said, he'd soon be dead
drinking had seen his decay
We sat apart from others there
he and I were best of pals
He'd tell me tales, of life’s travails
while I ogled all the gals

That day he shared a sordid tale
of pain he caused his own son
He had shouldered blame, bore the shame
for this thing that he had done
Back when he was just a young man
a pillar of support
He took his boy, his life’s great joy
to play their favorite sport

They went to a picnic that day
he had drank one too many
On the way, to watch his son play
of fears he hadn't any
His boy was riding in the back
not thinking they skipped the seat belt
He'd rolled his car, the door ajar
surprise was all he had felt

His boy was tossed out in a field
sweet clover of timothy
The child's light hair, seen lying there
remembered so vividly
"I was a Veterinarian"
said Peaches to my surprise
"I went insane, called out in vain
but God never heard my cries"

"So now I ride where I belong
In back of my self-made bar
Hoping he, will come to take me
by tossing me from the car"
Just then a tear fell from his cheek
the pain enveloped me too
Here cried a man, much deeper than
any of us ever knew

Tate