CORNER POST - Song Page
© words & music by Annie Wilson
from CD Tallgrass Express Comes Back
Album Note: My husband has built miles of fence in the Flint Hills. This song reflects what I've learned from his philosophy of work, cattle, weather, land and permanence.
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LYRICS
A cowboy who’s just spent all day
Bringing back some skittish strays
Dreams that night of a mighty fence
That withstands all the elements
He knows a fence needs most of all
A corner post that’s thick and tall
Anchored deep beneath the grass
Its place for years and years to last
As suns rise and set
On this green, rolling land
The corner post withstands
Barbed-wire loops around its chest
Shoot off north south east and west
A medieval torture stretching rack
Wires so tight they spring right back
Snakes will cool beneath the shade
Its massive limestone braces made
Deer will leap and leave some hair
But no steer wants to jump up there
Orange-ringed bow wood trunk
Spawned from seed of emigrants
This human marker holds its grip
To cast its net of ownership
Across an unsuspecting
And cornerless land
The corner post withstands
Sun and wind, rain and cold
Work to loosen up its hold
Fires singe away its bark
Cattle rub and leave their mark
The toughest job a cowboy knows
Is settin a big corner post
He hopes for all his sweat and strife
The corner post will last his life
Miles of posts and wire pull
But his corner post stands like a bull
This heavy hedge log rooted deep
Its place for years and years to keep
After the storms
On this wild, open land
The corner post withstands
The world can make us lose our way
Hurt the ones we love the most
When we stray away from home
We wish we had a corner post
A cowboy who’s just spent all day
Bringing back some skittish strays
Dreams that night of a mighty fence
That withstands all the elements
As the suns rise and set
On this green, rolling land
The corner post withstands