The Showdown at the Old Saloon

The Showdown at the Old Saloon

Two cowboys drank in an old saloon bar,
One had travelled from lands afar.
The whiskey flowed as the night grew late,
But neither man knew his coming fate.

An argument started between the two,
Their tempers rose as the anger grew.
One pulled his gun and fired a shot,
But missed the cowboy on the spot.

The bullet shattered the glasses nearby,
And smashed the mirror as it went flying by.
The cowboy ducked and reached for his gun,
He knew this fight had only begun.

He fired one shot, and his aim was true,
Straight through the heart the bullet flew.
His opponent staggered and fell to the floor,
And the saloon fell silent once more.

The bartender stood with a trembling hand,
As the sheriff arrived to take command.
He looked at the body and shook his head,
Another foolish cowboy lay dead.

The sheriff looked closer and turned deathly white,
For he knew the man who had died that night.
His own deputy lay dead on the floor,
A man he’d trusted for years before.

He thought of the deputy’s children and wife,
The two little ones they’d brought into life.
How would she raise them now on her own,
With their father gone and their happiness flown?

The sheriff turned slowly, his heart full of pain,
And drew out his gun in a moment insane.
He fired at close range, and the cowboy fell,
As silence descended where two men lay still.

Nobody saw it, a voice cried out,
The cowboy attacked him, of that there’s no doubt.
That’s right, said another, from way at the back,
The sheriff was forced to defend the attack.

The sheriff had served them for many a year,
A good, honest man whom they’d held very dear.
He’d always been fair and had stood for what’s right,
But grief had taken control of him that night.

The men in the saloon knew what he’d done,
They’d watched him draw and fire his gun.
But none would betray him or leave him to die,
So they stood there together and agreed on a lie.

Two men lay dead on that saloon floor,
And the truth was never spoken of anymore.
For justice and mercy don’t always agree,
And some truths are buried in history.

He needed that alibi, else tomorrow he’d hang and died