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Ranger Jim
(© 2004 Walter Ehresman)

Ranger Jim sat in the bar, and they brought his usual,
and he sipped his rum at the table that he likes;
And the jungle air was tangible; mosquitos thick as thieves;
The anemic fans, they offered no respite.
When the village people saw him, they’d all great him with a nod
‘cause they’d seen enough to know his word was true;
And the wild men of the Highlands would appear from time to time
when he journeyed to the edge of what he knew.

Out past the last horizons, where the ad men didn’t go,
Jim would climb to where they still have giant trees.
And he’d help them raise the longhouse and he’d sit with the old men,
and they’d talk about the things you couldn’t see.
And he’d join in with their dances and he’d smoke a pipe or two,
and he’d live among the wild men and try not to think of you.
He was not a member of their tribe, and he didn’t want to be–
Jim never was a joiner, but he liked good company.

Jim found a better voice inside his somewhat later years,
and it helped him calm the rages in his soul.
He’d spent a lifetime fighting downward spiralings of fear,
but the weight of time now graced him with control.
And it’s not romantic notion, and it’s not that New Age crap
and it’s not a lack of caution, ‘cause Jim’s way too smart for that;
But it’s something close to stillness in a moment past all time
when that quiet understanding lets us leave our words behind.

Way back on the veranda, in the shadow of the leaves–
flesh and life now slowly ebb away.
They keep the chair there for him, and they check once in a while
to see if Jim might want to eat today.
But they don’t mistake the silence for a softening of the mind
and they don’t mistake the smile for dwelling on those left behind;
And the old men from the Highlands one day came to get their friend,
and they placed him with their ancestors–their tribesman, Ranger Jim.

credits

from Monkey Paw Situation, released May 1, 2009
Walter Ehresman: recitation; 10-string acoustic/electric bouzouki; keyboards; sampling.

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Walter Ehresman San Miguel De Allende, Mexico

Called "the quintessential Austin DIY artist" by famed local disc jockey Charlie Martin , Walter Ehresman was an eccentric presence in the Austin music scene from the '80s until his 2015 move to Mexico. A prolific songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and recording artist...and a restless musical spirit, always looking for something new, expressed with fearlessly honest, socially-conscious lyrics. ... more

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