Sunday, September 2, 2007

Riding Through The Fire

Riding Through The Fire
This poem came out of recent ride I made up to Missoula and then on to Kalispell, MT. Of course, most of this can be attributed to the imagination of the poet, but at the time there really were some fires burning in western Montana, one quite serious just north of Missoula, the "Blackcat" fire, where I rode through flames right down to the edge of MT highway 93. I rode through extremely smoky conditions on a lot of that ride and this poem came to me in bits and pieces as I rode. I finally got around to releasing it onto the page. I hope you enjoy it. Keep on Keepin' on

Ridin’ through the fire
Ridin’ through the smoke of Hell
The forest around him burning
He keeps riding toward Kalispell

He met her in a saloon in Drummond
She lifted his soul and body higher
She was gone when he awakened
Left both his heart and the forest on fire

She told him she lived up by Kalispell
In a cabin near Flathead Lake
And although the smoke was getting bad
He new that run he had to make.

So he went ridin’ through the fire
Ridin' through the smoke of Hell
He rode straight on through Missoula
He was headed for Kalispell

Although fires burned right beside the road
He kept that Harley’s wheels on turning
Through Arlee, Polson, then on to Big Fork
His heart-fire just kept on burning

He had to see that Montana girl again
She had taken him so much higher
Than any woman had done before
She’d really set his soul on fire

So he went ridin’ through fire
He rode through the smoke of Hell
He just crossed the Jocko River
He had to make it to Kalispell.

She heard about it the next morning
He’d run a road block, the announcer said
On a closed highway he’d lost control
In the flames they found him dead.

She wondered why he had made that run
What caused him to take that ride?
Her husband didn’t see the tear that fell
With the name of the man who had died.

He’s still ridin’ through that fire
He’s still ridin’ through the smoke of Hell
Around him all is burning
And a woman weeps in Kalispell

Copyright 2007, Bill "uglicoyote" Davis





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