The Escape

Richard Elloyan
(Wild Horse Crossing)

Me and Wade was ridin’ fenceline out in rugged peaks
South of the Oregon border, north of Leonard Creek
When high up in the rimrocks a shadow crossed the sun
And down a sagebrush covered draw
Came a Mustang on the run

The pounding of his hoof beats shook the chilly air
Blowin’ hot breath from his nostrils
And his eyes were wide and scared
He was running like the devil was tangled in his mane
In the distance came the beating of a helicopter blade

There was magic in the muscles
Strength in every line
The face of western history
Going back to Spanish time
Conquistadors and cowboys
And the legendary chiefs
Of Cheyenne, Sioux and the Kiowa
Reflected in that beast

The helicopter cleared the ridgeline,
W e knew that horse was done
In the window sat a shooter with a tranquilizer gun
One hundred yards and closing
But we missed one small detail
Sure the helicopter had the speed
But the Mustang knew the trail

He went hell-bent down the hillside
Where the canyon walls were steep
Racing for the shelter of a stand of Aspen trees
There was thirty feet between them
When the shooter fired his dart
But the Mustang made the thicket
And the needle missed its mark

There was magic in the muscles
Strength in every line
The face of western history
G oing back to Spanish time
Conquistadors and cowboys
And the legendary chiefs
Of Cheyenne, Sioux and the Kiowa
Reflected in that beast

Me and Wade sat and reflected
On the drama that had played
While the silence rushed to fall back
On the pinion and the Sage
Perhaps as long as there are Mustangs
Still out there running free
The wild left in the Wild West won’t become a memory

©1999 Blue Piggie Music, BMI