Let's ride!

The call went out across the open plain

From the man in black, demon with a name.

And so the six were drawn to his side.

First came the Texan

Heart and soul as big as that famed state

A brother spirit - drawn to find his fate.

He'd been a hunter, he'd been prey;

He'd wondered without a cause.

But here he would now stay;

A dangerous soul to give men pause.

Then came the healer

A fierce spirit housed in a gentle soul.

A free man, but still the scars tell the toll

Of being a slave, of being denied

His dignity and the rights he was due.

But within himself he always kept his pride.

Now here he found his calling true.

Then found the old friend

Equal parts unbridled mirth and undying loyalty.

A rough edged man touched with a hint of frailty

For a kind heart and an open embrace.

For a woman to hold and love, all he'd ever ask.

But beneath that handsome, genial face

A formidable foe equal to any task.

And along came the gambler

An enigma with a guarded heart

Unpredictability was his casual art.

Not to luck, not to chance would he lay claim.

A rare and quick wit coupled with an agile mind

He found that life lay in the thrill of the game,

But here, despite himself, no longer of the third kind.

Next was the preacher

A man of faith, his own soul set adrift.

A penitent heart through the ashes of beliefs he did sift.

But truly redemption was not all he sought.

His questing soul knew to life there was so much more

Than the deadly and deeper wars still to be fought

And within grew a greater strength than found before.

And finally came the kid

Not quite the innocent for there was such a lust

For adventure and renown her in the dust

Of the untamed West where he believed

Heroes walked tall, un-bended by their oft-dread deeds.

But still just a boy late of mother much bereaved

And so here he found a place to fill his aching need.

All drawn to the man in black

Dark spirit housed within a lean, wry frame.

Tormented by demons too fierce to tame

He survives by sheer force of will

Struggling to release the past he is undaunted;

As his heart's void slowly, surely begins to fill,

For here he has found a future less haunted.

Let's ride!

The call went out across the open plain

And the seven, their destiny their own to claim

Rode forth.