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FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection

Date of Items: 1890-present
Register Prepared by: Randy Williams and Susan Gross, April 2004
Register Updated by: Randy Williams, 23 December 2009
Excel database transfered to MYSQL and uploaded (replacing PHP data): Colin Jackson, Fall 2010
MYSQL database updated: Randy Williams, January 2012
Linear Feet:20

Historical Note & Provenance

Folk Coll 11 is Utah State University's cowboy poetry collection. The collection, originally created by a generation donation by the L. J. and Mary Skaggs Foundation, includes books gathered during a fieldwork project in the early 1980s to document cowboy poetry in the U.S. west (see Folk Coll 11f). From this important fieldwork project came the impetus for the first Cowboy Poetry Gathering held in January 1985 in Elko, Nevada. Since that time, each January, the Fife Folklore Archives staff take the collection and Access database (that details each book, poem, author, first line and key words), to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering for offsite use. Through University purchases and generation donations from poets and collectors, this collection continues to grow.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of 20 linear feet of books on cowboy poetry, including press and self published works. The collection can be accessed through USU Libraries online catalog.


As well, poem titles and keywords found in each book in the collection are included in the database below. To use, type in the search term. Tip: Try and use an uncommon word from the poem to ensure less "hits." For instance, if you enter "boots" you will get many hits; but if you enter "bones" you will most liley get fewer "hits" or poems and find the item you seek faster. To return to the search page, click "home" at the bottom of the page.

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Poetry table.

First Previous Next Last
IDBook TitleComposerIndexPagesAuthorPoem TitleFirst LinesKeywords
22552 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 24 Lucy S. Burnham Birthdays Birthdays are such happy times When the children gather round, And fairly make the rafters shake With songs and joyful sound.
22553 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 25 Lucy S. Burnham Grandma She asked us to call her Nanna, Or mom, if we'd prefer; She loved us all so dearly, But grandma bothered her
22554 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 26 Lucy S. Burnham Values Life's values are mixed a bit, dear, In yoru lovely, little pate, So glad to find what's wrong dear, Before it was too late.
22555 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 27 Lucy S. Burnham April Rain Old mother nature weeps today, I wonder why, I wonder why. I couldn't say at all, my dear, Why she should ever cry.
22556 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 27 Lucy S. Burnham Night Song The wind sings softly through the trees, A night-bird sends its wild, sweet call; The cricket hums his cheerful lay, While cooling shadows softly fall.
22557 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 28 Lucy S. Burnham A Boy And His Dog They pass down my street most every day; A barefoot boy and a dog at play; The boy's straw hat is tattered and torn, His overalls are faded and worn.
22558 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 29 Lucy S. Burnham The Robins Lament This is the story as told to me By a robin in my old elm tree; His poor heart was filled with many fears, And if birds cry, he shed bitter tears.
22559 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 30 Lucy S. Burnham I have Often Wondered I have often wondered, haven't you, Why flowers love the morning dew And lift their small and shining face Aglow with heaven's radiant grace.
22560 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 31 Lucy S. Burnham The Wise Are Slow To Speak The fool has said there is no God, The wise are slow to speak; He hears a voice in the sea's deep roar, And the quiet of mountain peak.
22561 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 32 Lucy S. Burnham Night Why should I fear the night? It is the time for rest, Soft curtains drawn against the day; Sometimes I like it best.
22562 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 32 Lucy S. Burnham God Rules The Destiny Of Earth God holds the destiny of men In the hollow of His hand; He guides the ship of state through storm To ancchor safe on land.
22563 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 33 Lucy S. Burnham The Sabbath Evening This quiet Sabbath evening A peace pervades my home; Content I sit besides my hearth With no desire to roam.
22564 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 34 Lucy S. Burnham The Testing Long years ago I wept so easily At every little thing that fretted me. My days might just as well be filled with cheer, And yet the time was spent in morbid fear.
22565 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 34 Lucy S. Burnham The Window Of My Soul Today I washed the windows of my woul, With bitter tears made brightly clean the whole. I was surprised to find so much of stain, But glad that I could clearly see again.
22566 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 35 Lucy S. Burnham The Narrowing Path If you walk with the crowd on the highway of life, You are just very sure to go wrong, For the narrowing path that leads to the right Was never walked by the throng.
22567 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 36 Lucy S. Burnham If I Had But One Day If I had but one day to live, I know what I would do, I'd treasure up each golden hour And spend them all with you.
22568 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 37 Lucy S. Burnham To A Bulb O little browned and withered bulb I hold within my hand, This change and nature's way I do not fully understand.
22569 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 38 Lucy S. Burnham Shadows Shadows are veils the sunbeams let down, The shadows may bring us pain, But if we keep sweet and true and fine, The sunbeams will come again.
22570 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 38 Lucy S. Burnham My Gift I cannot write the priceless words That charm like music fine, But I can write you cheerful thoughts, Give service all divine.
22571 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 39 Lucy S. Burnham Sand Silvery, glittering, rippling sand, Tranquil, lovely and sweet, Peaceful, glimmering mounds of sand Like music beneath my feet.
22572 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 40 Lucy S. Burnham The Desert Charm My desert home, thou land of dreary waste, Of constant wind and ever shifting sand; Thy sun-baked earth brings forth no herb, no flower, No life, no faintest hint of beauty grand.
22573 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 41 Lucy S. Burnham Desert Land Great, wide, primeval desert, Sloping away to the west, Ono to the Beautiful Mountain With snow on its sunlit crest.
22574 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 42 Lucy S. Burnham The Bonitians New Mexico, loved land of mystery, What is this spell that hovers 'round tonight? I shiver as I draw my mantle close The while I revel at this wondrous sight.
22575 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 43 Lucy S. Burnham Under The Open Sky If you are beset with worries, And everything seems dead wrong, Walk under the open heavens And listen to nature's song.
22576 Drift Wood FC 11 B-59 44 Lucy S. Burnham Christmas Magic "And suddenly there was with the angels a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men!'"