On April 3rd, 1926, South Dakota’s first poet laureate, Badger Clark, shares his work at the first cowboy poetry event in Elko, Nevada. One of his most well-known works, “A Cowboy’s Prayer” has been widely circulated over the years but is often cited as “author unknown” or “anonymous”.
Marilyn Nelson, a renowned poet, and educator read Clark’s “A Cowboy’s Prayer” during a presentation at the Library of Congress. During her presentation, she noted “the poem was first published in 1906, but it had a life of its own without the name of its author. Badger Clark was so charmed by this that he collected anonymous collections of his work… he had sixty copies of poems that had been published as anonymous.”
Nelson commented, “Clark lived alone in a cabin with no electricity, running water, or telephone, on land that is now Custer state park. He traveled as a young man, however, and this poem, “A Cowboy’s Prayer,” was written during the time he was living in Arizona. You can hear the “Westernness” of this poem.” Comments by poet and educator Marilyn Nelson on the work of Badger Clark during a presentation at the Library of Congress.
One of Badger Clark’s poems was recorded by the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter. Another was set to music and recorded by the Fred Waring chorus. Bob Dylan recorded one of Badger Clark’s poems as a song. And Johnny Cash recorded a version of “A Cowboy’s Prayer.” The South Dakota Historical Society Foundation continues to reprint the works of Badger Clark.
But it was on April 3rd, 1926, that Clark read his work during the first cowboy poetry gathering in Elko Nevada.
Production help is provided by Doctor Brad Tennant, Professor of History at Presentation College.
A Cowboy’s Prayer
(Written for Mother)
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 find You in the light
That’s sifted down through tinted window panes,
And yet I seem to feel You near tonight
In this dim, quiet starlight on the plains.
I thank You, Lord, that I am placed so well,
That You have made my freedom so complete;
That I’m no slave of 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’s 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.
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 ‘em say I’m mean or small!
Make me as big and open as the plains,
As honest as the hawse between my knees,
Clean as the wind that blows behind the rains,
Free as the hawk that circles down the breeze!
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.
—Charles “Badger” Clark