PRAYERS & POEMS FOR SCOUTERS

A Cowboy's Prayer
National Capital Area Council

Oh, Lord, I've never lived where churches grow.

I love creation better as it stood

That day you finished it so long ago.

And looked upon your work and called it good.

I know that others might find You in the light

That's sifted down through tinted window panes,

And yet I seem to feel You near tonight.

Let me be easy on the man that's down;

Let me be square and generous with all.

I'm careless sometimes, Lord, when I'm in town,

But never let them say I'm mean or small!

Make me as big and open as the plains,

As honest as the hoss between my knees,

Clean as the wind that blows behind the rains,

Free as the hawk that circles down the breeze!

I thank you, Lord, that I am placed so well,

That you made my freedom so complete;

That I'm no slave to whistle, clock, or bell,

Nor weak-eyed prisoner of wall and street.

Just let me live my life as I've begun

And give me work that is open to the sky;

Make me a pardner of the wind and sun,

And I won't ask a life that's soft or high.

Forgive me, Lord, if sometimes I forget.

You know about the reasons that are hid.

You understand the things that gall and fret;

You know me better than my mother did.

Just keep an eye on all that's done and said

And right me, sometimes, when I turn aside,

And guide me on the long, dim trail ahead

That stretches upward toward the Great Divide.

Badger Clark 1906

A Cowboy's Prayer
as written on Roy Rogers resting place

Oh Lord, I reckon I'm not much just by myself;

I fail to do a lot of things I ought to do, but Lord

when trails are steep and pass is high, help me ride

it straight the whole way through, and in the falling

dusk I get the final call - I do not care how many flowers

they send - above all else the happiest trail will be for

you to say to me, "Lets Ride My Friend."

Amen.

Roy Rogers November 5, 1911 - July 6, 1998