Spurs

The spurs clanking across the floor

Are from a time long before

When rough riders ruled the streets

And women hung linen sheets

But here I sit in the night of present day

Hearing spurs in the attic that decided to stay

I settle against the wall to decide

Should I sit here and wait, run and hide?

A sudden swarming of lights in my vision

Voices speaking, muffled, I strain to listen

"No dear, I simply can't leave it that way."

A woman says, "He wants to make you stray."

The man's voice replies,"I follow the law of the land."

The woman's voice rose," More like the law of western man."

Suddenly spurs clank and a door slams hard in the frame

The woman says aloud,"He just seeks to bring us shame!"

Loud popping sounds one, two ,three...

The temperature in the room drops a degree

Darkness, then nothing, I am back in the room

Where the spurs keep pacing with a persistent boom.