Drover - Bill Callahan

The real people went away

But I’ll find a better word someday

Leaving only me and my dreams

My cattle

And a resonator

I drove all the beasts down

Right under your nose

The lumbering footloose power

The bull and the rose

Don’t touch them

Don’t try to hurt them

My cattle!

I drove them by the crops and thought the crops were lost

I consoled myself with rudimentary thoughts

And I set my watch against the city clock

It was way off!

One thing about this wild, wild country

It takes a strong, strong, it breaks a strong, strong mind

One thing about this wild, wild country

It takes a strong, strong, it breaks a strong, strong mind

And anything less, anything less, makes me feel like I’m wasting my time

But the pain and frustration is not mine

It belongs to the cattle

Through the valley

And when my cattle turns on me

I was knocked back flat

I was knocked out cold for one clack of the train track

And then I rose a colossal hand

Buried in sand

I rose like a drover

For I am, in the end, a drover

A drover by trade

And when my cattle turns on me, I am a drover double fold

My cattle bears it all away for me and everyone

One thing about this wild, wild country

It takes a strong, strong, it breaks a strong, strong mind

And anything less, anything less, makes me feel like I’m wasting my time