A Longer Rope And A Taller Tree
4.5.2019
Lewis Elford Bannon
Lanky Lou
To me
To you
A dangerous man
A loose cannon
Wreaking murderous havoc
Across the land
‘Til we trapped him
T’weren’t easy
He put up quite a fight
Nothing short of a doozie
Nothing short of his height
And at 7’2
No ordinary hanging tree will do
Only the oak
On the outskirts of town
Gives Lanky Lou enough space
To hang with his feet off the ground
Takes a taller tree
And to have any hope
Of reaching its gallow branch
Takes a longer rope
The usual won’t reach
Borry’ Pucket’s
From out on his ranch
The sweat from Lou’s brow
As the rope makes its way
Over head
On his neck
Goes ‘round
Travels further
Takes longer
Over time
It smells stronger
Falls further
Until hits the ground
A longer rope
And a taller tree
Even if on the outskirts of town
Won’t fall short
A decision
By Mayor McGee
A decision
That’s perfectly sound
Lanky Lou
Begs to differ
Only Lou disagrees
As he spies
Shorter trees in town
But as for longer rope
Lanky Lou
He agrees
‘Cause he’d run
When his feet hit the ground
