Eight Seconds of Eternity :: Roadie :: Original Poetry

Eight Seconds of Eternity
Sweat beads my brow
Under my black Stetson
As I climb the rails...

The crowd is roaring in my ears
Drowning out all thoughts of quitting,
Of turning back...

I straddle the beast of fury,
Feeling his muscles tense
In preparation...

I quickly gather my bull rope
cinching it up tight in nervous hands.
Almost ready...

I tuck the tail, and loop it back,
Pounding my fist into a knot
On resined rope...

I scoot up on top of my hand,
Grab my hat, give a nod,
And hang on...

The crowd erupts, but I don't hear
It's me and the fury, one on one
Eight seconds...

I rake him with my spurs
As he fishtails, and spins into my hand
six seconds...

He swaps ends, almost throwing me
My ears are ringing with each thud of hoof
four seconds...

I am raking him fore and aft,
And he explodes with renewed vigor
Two seconds...

Out of flashing eyes I see the rodeo clowns
Preparing to distract as I dismount,
One second...

Time! I reach for the tail, pulling
As I Allow my body to relax
And ball up...

I feel the heavy thud of the soil
As I make contact with my shoulders
I'm off...

Slowly, I stand to my feet, doffing my Stetson
Amid the crowd's cheers for an eight second ride,
Now over....

Eight seconds of eternity...

Randy Lewis (Roadie)
4/20/2008

Poem Comments

(23)

: Please login or register

You must be logged in or register a new account in order to
leave comments/feedback and rate this poem.
Login or Register

Forestbird commented on Eight Seconds of Eternity 08-09-2010: Very dynamic and powerful. Form of the poem also very interesting. Is it possible to make a living being rodeo cowboy?; Reply to Comment

knight4696 commented on Eight Seconds of Eternity 02-18-2010: Roadie - Interestin read! I enjoyed the play by play action and the imagery is great. I've been to a few rodeos and enjoy them very much. Great job! :) Ken; Reply to Comment

stellar commented on Eight Seconds of Eternity 10-02-2009: wow there is a magic in this poem and love its effect on me...maybe because your poem is active...it is moving..i can feel the motions...as if i was the rider too...love it; Reply to Comment

SmileyAngel138 commented on Eight Seconds of Eternity 07-27-2009: you painted a perfect image of what was happening, it was like i was there... another great job :-); Reply to Comment

Roadie 07/27/2009: Thanks, Smiley. Deeply appreciated. Roadie

nbosko commented on Eight Seconds of Eternity 07-23-2009: I love the way you put it into seconds and explain what goes on. I kind of do the same thing when I am racing my dirtbike. Great Job!; Reply to Comment

Roadie 07/24/2009: Thank you very much, ma'am. Much appreciated.

Load more comments

Title	Comments	Submitted
Title	Comments	Submitted
Cowboy Romance	15	07/11/2009
Eight Seconds of Eternity	23	07/08/2009