What good is that one extra day in the month that comes around every four years? Well, consensus among at least two cowboy poets from the colder regions is, not much.* At least when that extra day insists on being in February. As DW Groethe says, "I have long held that the extra day every four years would be better spent on one of the summer months but does anyone ever listen?"
*Unless, of course, you were born on leap day.
Below, DW and Bill Lowman share verses about the longest of Februarys.
February
DW Groethe
Tonight’s a good night for bourbon,
Warms your heart like that sweet chinook breeze
Flyin’ down off the Rockies ‘cross the prairie to home
Bringin’ February right to its knees.
If ever there was a month needin’
A tamin’ for bein’ too long
An’ too cold an’ too dark an’ too white an’ too much
Ah, February, that is your song.
Leap Year
Bill Lowman
All the years of grown’n up, “leap year,”
Just meant an extra day of cold and grief.
In the gruesome days of February,
Before you could turn a calendar leaf.
For years I’ve always calculated,
Without that extra day in there.
By the time I turned eighty,
I’d be breathing younger air.
Saddled with all the daily ranch work,
I never bothered with the solar spin.
We just had our yearly chores,
That we’d do over and over again.
Back in the early days of grades,
Far out in a country school.
Our teacher taught us a little riddle,
That became a Golden Rule.
That we could use throughout our lives,
To remember each month’s days.
And recite it on command,
Even in our foggiest lackluster haze.
But I’ve always done things my way,
To keep track of days gone by.
They say dyslexics do that,
So here’s my version why.
Thirty days has September,
April, June and November.
All the rest have thirty one,
Except “January,” that on certain long winters has “forty some.”
Photo by Jessica Brandi Lifland
DW Groethe
Bainville, MT
DW Groethe is the son of a son of pioneers. He was born and raised in the west of Dakota and has lived the past 25-plus years across the border in Montana. It is the same land...same folks...same weather...same heartbeat. The lyrics may change but the rhythm stays true. He is a ranch hand, he is a poet, he is a songster. His songs and his poems sing of who he is and where he comes from. Feel free to stop DW any old time and ask him whatever needs asking. Coffee's on him.
Photo by Larry Angier
Bill Lowman
Sentinel Butte, ND
Bill Lowman, a multi-talented visual, literary, and performing artist, is the founder/director of the long-running Dakota Cowboy Poetry Gathering. He and his family own and operate a ranch in the Badlands some 20 miles northeast of Sentinel Butte, where they are widely known for their love and respect for the well-being of their livestock and pets. After a 10-year run with a weekly radio show, Bill is now a bi-monthly columnist in the Farm & Ranch Guide. An inductee of the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame and a Local Legacy in the Library of Congress, Bill’s most cherished accomplishment is continuing to improve the ranch.
