This poem came to me as I was at my last cousin’s wedding.  I was the first one to get hitched 12 years ago, and the final one was last month.  As we stood around after the ceremony, when one of them piped up that the NEXT family wedding would be one of MY DAUGHTERS!

I wrote the poem the next day….

“I got a shotgun and a shovel, and I ain’t afraid to use ‘em,”
It scared off all the city boys and that seemed to amuse him.

The old timer was a legend and so was his daughter, she was pretty as they come
He’d scared off agents, talent scouts, and boyfriends with that line so fearsome.

The fella’s from the local college all vowed to never darken his door.
The boys from the local fraternities had all seen his wrath before.

It was rumored that he took a young man out never to return, a couple years ago
The young man never visited again so the story began to grow.

To try to date the old man’s daughter was to invite certain death or at least his wrath
Many never made it past the front porch to call, and ran back down the gravel path

Til one day a farm boy knocked on the old curmudgeon’s door
He gave him his classic line that had scared off dozens before.

“I got a shotgun and a shovel and I ain’t afraid to use ‘em”
The young man just smiled and it seemed to amuse him.

So begrudgingly the father stepped aside and let him in the door.
He was puzzled the kid hadn’t taken off like all the ones before.

He showed the kid into the parlor where the two implements stood.
Both were in the corner with worn shiny steel, and dark, well used wood.

Beside ‘em slept a black lab, kinda old, with grey around his muzzle
A couple of hand carved decoys on the mantle was the last piece to the puzzle.

“I got a shot gun and a shovel…” he repeated as the suitor stepped inside
To which the young man’s eyes brightened, and quickly he replied:

“Well sir that’s just great. I’m happy to see you are sincere
I’ve been looking for some one like you since Jimmy moved last year

I’ve got a field down by the river, and the geese are always in it.
I need someone to help me dig the pit blind and shoot another limit.”

And the pretty young daughter looked on from the stairs she was descending.
From previous visitors there was a good chance the young man’s retreat was impending.

The old man’s eyes glared, his nostrils flared his most menacing visual warning
And he said, “Have her home in time for us to go huntin’ in the mornin’”
John Martin 2008

 

 

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