Handsome Dan Van/The Killing Tree

dan.handsome@yahoo.com

THE KILLING TREE
Abe reined in his mule team
Shook the dust off of his clothes
Twenty acres plowed up
Twenty more to go
Dunked a ladle in the bucket
Filled the water can
Black sharecropper on a hardscrabble farm
Northern Louisiana
He didn't talk to many people
Had no family or wife
Walked to the field every morning
Watched the sun go down every night

Rebecca lived in the biggest house
On a long and winding street
Curtains in every bedroom
Running water, coal fired heat
Her papa was in commerce
Hushed tones in the corridors
Becky bounced her ball and jacks
On polished hardwood floors
And she believed, she believed
That her world
Was moral, just and right
Walked to school every morning
Watched the sun go down every night

One night there was a breakin
At the home of Rusty Hayes
Eighty one dollars missing
And a watch on a silver chain
The rumor circulated
That someone saw a man
Running from the house that night
That looked a lot like Abraham
So they took Abe to the courthouse
The judge asked, where is it hidden
Abe said I do not have your money
I have always earned my own living

But the crowd outside they dogged him
Cursed Abe as a liar and a thief
Threw him in a wagon
Rode to the killing tree
The whole town watched the hanging
Dressed in suits and finery
Becky watched as Abe swung
From that killing tree
Flash powder from a camera
Searched the depths of Rebecca's eyes
But found no saddness, shock or pity
Her world was moral, just and right

Category:

Music

Tags:

• original
• songs

[handsomedan100]

Thought of that after I wrote it. Must have been some kind of subconscious thing. Those things surface at the oddest times.

[handsomedan100]

Thanks Mr. Mighty Chicken!

[anarchychicken]

Good song for sure. Just curious, how'd you arrive at the name Rusty Hayes for the robbery victim? Presidential reference?

[anarchychicken]

Good song for sure. Just curious, how'd you arrive at the name Rusty Hayes for the robbery victim? Presidential reference?

[themightychickens]

Expected it to be the band The Killing Tree, but quite good, even though I don't like the genre.