I Express Myself Through Writing
A old tired cowboy that’s rode miles across the great terrain of America as well as Mexico. His eyes have seen numerous sunsets that seemed to stretch for miles across the dessert sky. Campfires spent alone , drifting asleep remembering shootouts with the law sits alone looking at a old faded picture. He watches a fire slowly burn to embers and looks into her eyes ,wondering how a outlaws prayers were ever answered.
His life had been filled with rising his horse across the plains, drifting in to one border town and then another. Never one to be settled into a everyday job, his restlessness took him into great adventures. From riding to a train station town to hold up a boxcar filled with some rich mans gold or holding up a border town bank, riding the rail between right and wrong was his only ever means of monetary value.
Born in the small border town of Luckenbach, Texas in 1868, his parents named him John Wesley Hardin. Named after a famous Texas outlaw whom was once friends with Wild Bill Hickok, the name was probably a good insight into the life the young boy would live. Not much for studying or school in general, John barely passed by through elementary and high school. He spent more time it seemed ditching school itself and hanging out at the general store and in later years the saloon which was part of the same building.
Years of fighting in the old Luckenbach saloon as a young man got old as the lure of quick money soon became to hard to pass up. John Wesley left home at the age of 17 with nothing but the clothes on his back and a shotgun his dad had given him as a present on his 15th birthday. He rode across the border to a Mexican town .
Finding life was harder for the people across the border , he settled for the city of El Paso. There he made friends with a outlaw group along side El Paso’s own Alamosa Bill. The duo would rob banks all along the Texas- Mexico border. They would ride for few years until Bill’s death in April of 1888.
It was while riding along side Alamosa Bill that John met up with a young woman named Anna Josephine.A sweet soft spoken brown eyed beauty. Anna’s parents were traders , making a living selling the fur from hunts they would make and jewelry Anna’s mother would assemble. A poor Mexican man’s daughter Anna was required to stay home and help raise her 5 siblings. She was a dark beauty with a gift to sing. It was then when singing in a barroom at the age of 18 that Anna first spotted John Wesley. She had never seen a American with such a blend of angel as well as the dark eyes of a devil. She feel in love instantly, something that through the hardest of times she still never would regret.
The young lovers would ride together along side outlaws they would come across as they went from town to town. During the day when John would be sleeping after a hard night of gambling , Anna sang in the local barrooms. At night when together the couple would lay out on a blanket while looking up at the endless sky of stars. Sunsets on the dessert were filled with colors of gold, dark orange and a beautiful shade of red along with light pink. Her smooth soft voice would calm the devil in John as she sang him asleep.
The couple would ride together through every up and down life would throw their way. From the small towns along side the border to the bigger cities all the way up to California. They were inseparable . A outlaw American cowboy along side his beautiful Mexican señorita. Living life on the run would tire John and the lure of a family with Anna made more sense to him the more he thought about it. The couple came back to where it had all started , making a home in El Paso.
John Wesley traded his life of being a outlaw cowboy for the more respectable trade of a iron smith. Having learned from fellow outlaws who had use the trade in a way to supplement a income when being a thief had its disadvantages. Anna who was born with the blessing of a angel continued to sing in the barrooms only this time John was doing more work and less gambling as of late. They would marry and settle into a small two bedroom home on the outskirts of the city.
Years passed by quickly and as the couple grew older the thoughts of a family become more and more of a reality. After trying to conceive , Anna was pregnant. For the first 9 months went well and a baby girl was born. She had her mothers coloring and her dads dark eyes. Her name was Marie after Anna’s mother.
As a father John Wesley had found the greatest thief he had ever came across. As his heart was stolen the minute he held his daughter in his arms. Having bought his family home to become a father , he quickly found that life has its own cruel sense of taking your heart and breaking it at its fullest. Only two weeks after delivering Marie , Anna was a victim of a terrible case of malaria that struck the Mexican city. Having no cure for the pain he was suffering , John walked into a casa de dios and prayed for a miracle.
The old outlaw must have had been forgiving his crimes cause it was only two nights after his visit to the Mexican church that Anna fever finally had broke and within a week she was doing better.
Now as Marie is asleep in her bed , John Wesley and Anna sit out back watching the fire slowly die down. He looks over at his Mexican beauty as she sings him a hymns and he thanks God that a outlaws prayers were answered.
His life had been filled with rising his horse across the plains, drifting in to one border town and then another. Never one to be settled into a everyday job, his restlessness took him into great adventures. From riding to a train station town to hold up a boxcar filled with some rich mans gold or holding up a border town bank, riding the rail between right and wrong was his only ever means of monetary value.
Born in the small border town of Luckenbach, Texas in 1868, his parents named him John Wesley Hardin. Named after a famous Texas outlaw whom was once friends with Wild Bill Hickok, the name was probably a good insight into the life the young boy would live. Not much for studying or school in general, John barely passed by through elementary and high school. He spent more time it seemed ditching school itself and hanging out at the general store and in later years the saloon which was part of the same building.
Years of fighting in the old Luckenbach saloon as a young man got old as the lure of quick money soon became to hard to pass up. John Wesley left home at the age of 17 with nothing but the clothes on his back and a shotgun his dad had given him as a present on his 15th birthday. He rode across the border to a Mexican town .
Finding life was harder for the people across the border , he settled for the city of El Paso. There he made friends with a outlaw group along side El Paso’s own Alamosa Bill. The duo would rob banks all along the Texas- Mexico border. They would ride for few years until Bill’s death in April of 1888.
It was while riding along side Alamosa Bill that John met up with a young woman named Anna Josephine.A sweet soft spoken brown eyed beauty. Anna’s parents were traders , making a living selling the fur from hunts they would make and jewelry Anna’s mother would assemble. A poor Mexican man’s daughter Anna was required to stay home and help raise her 5 siblings. She was a dark beauty with a gift to sing. It was then when singing in a barroom at the age of 18 that Anna first spotted John Wesley. She had never seen a American with such a blend of angel as well as the dark eyes of a devil. She feel in love instantly, something that through the hardest of times she still never would regret.
The young lovers would ride together along side outlaws they would come across as they went from town to town. During the day when John would be sleeping after a hard night of gambling , Anna sang in the local barrooms. At night when together the couple would lay out on a blanket while looking up at the endless sky of stars. Sunsets on the dessert were filled with colors of gold, dark orange and a beautiful shade of red along with light pink. Her smooth soft voice would calm the devil in John as she sang him asleep.
The couple would ride together through every up and down life would throw their way. From the small towns along side the border to the bigger cities all the way up to California. They were inseparable . A outlaw American cowboy along side his beautiful Mexican señorita. Living life on the run would tire John and the lure of a family with Anna made more sense to him the more he thought about it. The couple came back to where it had all started , making a home in El Paso.
John Wesley traded his life of being a outlaw cowboy for the more respectable trade of a iron smith. Having learned from fellow outlaws who had use the trade in a way to supplement a income when being a thief had its disadvantages. Anna who was born with the blessing of a angel continued to sing in the barrooms only this time John was doing more work and less gambling as of late. They would marry and settle into a small two bedroom home on the outskirts of the city.
Years passed by quickly and as the couple grew older the thoughts of a family become more and more of a reality. After trying to conceive , Anna was pregnant. For the first 9 months went well and a baby girl was born. She had her mothers coloring and her dads dark eyes. Her name was Marie after Anna’s mother.
As a father John Wesley had found the greatest thief he had ever came across. As his heart was stolen the minute he held his daughter in his arms. Having bought his family home to become a father , he quickly found that life has its own cruel sense of taking your heart and breaking it at its fullest. Only two weeks after delivering Marie , Anna was a victim of a terrible case of malaria that struck the Mexican city. Having no cure for the pain he was suffering , John walked into a casa de dios and prayed for a miracle.
The old outlaw must have had been forgiving his crimes cause it was only two nights after his visit to the Mexican church that Anna fever finally had broke and within a week she was doing better.
Now as Marie is asleep in her bed , John Wesley and Anna sit out back watching the fire slowly die down. He looks over at his Mexican beauty as she sings him a hymns and he thanks God that a outlaws prayers were answered.
46-50, M
