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The Legend of the Bog Rider


My first poem of 2024 is one I have been working on for months, "The Legend of the Bog Rider." John Elmore started a sermon a few months ago about a story his grandfather-in-law once told him about the bog rider. What's a bog rider? A bog rider was a cowboy that would ride to various watering spots, esepcially in the spring, that had become death traps for cows due to rains. He would then rescue them from their certain doom. His grandfather-in-law shared how the bog rider very much represented Christ. Here's John's telling of it: The Bog Rider | Watermark Community Church Added to the story's reference to Psalm 40:2 are John 4 and Luke 19:10.


Cow's a-thirstin'

Pinin' for water to drink

Oblivious to the peril

The slough into which it will sink.


He lurches in

Wallows into its doom

Buzzards now circlin'

Coyotes lurk and loom.


Cow's a-dyin'

As it struggles and strains

It needs a savior

Frantic efforts are in vain.


Upon the horizon

A lone figure appears

Hoof beats thunderin'

As his presence draws near.


He rides across the prairies

He rides across the fields

He rides to every watering hole

Urgency nipping at his heels.


In the muck, in the filth, in the miry clay

Seekin' those who have gone astray

He journeys far; he journeys long

As the bog rider rides on.


He slogs into the quagmire

A rope and shovel in his hands

Links cow to horse

Part of the deliverance he has planned.


He digs into the devilish morass

Pushes down and deep

Mudded hope builds with each motion

Salvation at a price so steep.


Freedom's finally fulfilled

As cowboy and horse heave and haul

Cow bounds away

Restored from its great fall.


Cowboy's grimy

Covered in sludge and scum

Cowboy's victorious

The powers of death he has overcome.


He wades out

Saddles up for another expedition

Dogged and relentless

Finding the lost is his mission.


In the muck, in the filth, in the miry clay

Seekin' those who have gone astray

He journeys far; he journeys long

And the bog rider rides on and on.


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