THE BALLAD OF FAST EDDIE

Back
In the 1970s
Fast Eddie was
An old man
Who walked
Down the streets
Of the city
Of Troy
Looking for a
Fight looking for
All the bad guys in
A child sized
Cowboy hat with
Two cap
Pistols & his
Belt looking
For the
OK Corral
On the streets
And in the
Alleyways of
The city where
He was the sheriff
Waiting for the clock
To strike

Noon

“Eat lead!”

Eddie would yell
At all the passersby’s
Who laughed
At him cap
Guns blazing in
The air
The sun the
Fastest gunslinger
In the West
This side of
Albany a legend
Who kept Troy
Safe from a world
Too hard to
Understand too
Scared to deal
With life & all
The pressures
Of the world
And of
The mind

Eddie
Liked his
Sarsaparilla
Straight up
And took no
Gruff from
Anyone another
Hero lost in time
Protecting the world
From the men in
Black hats that
We could
Never see

Eddie
Was a real
Gunfighter
A real man that
All the children
Could look up
To a man who
Was kind but
Tough but who
Didn’t see the
End coming

Until one
Day when
Eddie was casually
Walking down
The block
And got shot down
By the gas company
Maintenance man
Known to all his friends
As Tom Terrific
Who pointed his
Finger at Eddie
And said

“Draw!”

And fired

But Eddie just
Wasn’t fast
Enough
His pistols never
Leaving the holsters
In time

Pow! Pow!
Tom’s finger
Took him down
And Eddie
Pretended to
Be shot
And dropped
To the ground

And
That was
The End
Of Fast
Eddie
And he
Was sent
To a psychiatric
Hospital
Where they
Just called him

“Ed”

~ R.M. Engelhardt