Did I hit it? Is it down?

Is that target on the ground?

Or is it still there standing in the smoke?

Sometimes it’s hard to see

when you shoot the Real BP.

Black Powder ain’t for wimps and that’s no joke.

If the weather god is good

in your range’s neighborhood

you might get a tiny break if you’re allowed.

But usually the thang

is to listen for the clang,

cause you sure won't see hits through that big cloud.

The posse chokes and fusses.

The RO, he just cusses.

The concussion blows their hats off in a minute.

The 12 gauge  roars and jumps.

The targets take their lumps.

And the posse wonders just what you have in it.

I ‘spect back in the day

when cowboys went to play

some Faro at the local gaming place,

and someone fired a shot

cause he got a little hot

you’d be prayin in the smoke for God’s good grace.

As the bullets wildly flew

in a cloud of grey and blue

there wasn’t too much aiming going on.

They just sprayed around the dark

and hoped they hit their mark.

Sometimes the smoke would clear at last by dawn.

Black Powder when confined

Will really blow your mind

You need a good gas mask and some Visine

Don’t fire inside a shed.

It can really hurt yore head.

It’s loud and I can tell ya, it ain’t clean.

Yup, Black Powder’s the real deal.

I like the way it feels

to hold a time machine in my own hand.

Takes me back to olden times,

to sunny Western climes,

when the West was wild and Cowboys ruled the land.

Ode to Black Powder

Buffalo Brady

Last Stand 2005