Pokin' Power
"A trapper needs a pokin' stick!"
Were my Daddy's words most wise.
"It can bring you fame and fortune;
Help you handle life's worst lies."
"I don't believe that much in luck,
Life gives you what you take.
A pokin' stick won't cost a buck
And your fortune it could make."
I cut mine four-foot end-to-end
Made from an old, rake handle.
Ashen-smooth, light in-hand;
Smooth as a waxen candle
Muskrat burrows, by the score
It's found in the river-bank.
A gentle feel and a trap of steel -
That's MONEY in the bank!
A pokin' stick's a walkin' cane
When the trail is long and tough.
It gets you home to your warm, snug camp
After your back says: "That's enough!"
It's rescued traps from water-deep;
Even paddled my canoe.
A pokin' stick is versatile,
It's really up to you.
A big, Ol' cat from the mountains
Once thought to him a pelt I'd give
But I soundly "poked" him on the nose;
Now, he has at least ONE less "life" to live.
His eyeballs crossed from South to North,
His nose swooned up t'wards Heaven,
If I hadn't slipped swingin' my pokin' stick,
He's have lost another "seven."
I missed his head and hit his tail,
Awaking him from his cower.
The last I seen was a streak-of-mean
Doin' sixty-miles "purr" hour.
One day I walked beside a stream and
Met a lady-in-in-distress.
I offered her my pokin' stick -
(Well, I guess you know the rest?)
We now have four little trappers
To "poke" the river's banks.
Our days are filled with livin' and
The heavens hear our "Thanks!"
Now, a trapper's days are "numbered."
Same as yours, you MUST believe.
I just hope that when my "number's up"
That my friends won't fret or grieve.
Just think: the Ol' Lad's on his way;
The Devil he's gonna trick - - -
St Peter On-High will let him by
He's got his pokin' stick.
From: Tales of the Trap-Line
By: Glen E. Smith AKA Ed
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