A Rancher Turns 80/The Years

In Oregon's arms there lived a rancher.

A man of dreams who loved the land.

John Bishop knew each morning sunrise

Was an open door on down the road to a greater plan

To be a steward of the prairie,

To be a keeper of the plains,

To watch the wild, and running horses

And feel the rhythm of the seasons as they changed.

A morning ride out on old Poncho,

The cattle grazing in the sun,

The buds of spring, a time of branding.

A hundred head gone down before the day was done.

These were the things that touched the person,

Thai held the heart of a gentle man

That blest the soul and forged the courage

To face the howling winds of life and make a stand.

Now, the years passed on by the Malheur waters.

The land was good and the family grew.

With his wife he raised two sons, five daughters.

A fathers love. a guiding hand from a man that knew

That there's a song in every season,

That there's a laugh for every cry,

That there's a rhyme for every reason,

And the truth of who we are within our eyes.

So here's to you, you yodeling cowboy.

Sing us a round of those "Freight Train Blues."

And sing it loud. so the hills and the valleys

Will have your friends and your neighbors puttin' on their dancin' shoes

And singing, "Thanks for the care that was given

To the lives that were not your own

And thanks for the heart of who you are

And the love within that heart that we have known."

Turn around, where have the years gone

Those bright and fine years, those years of sweet songs

When the work was hard, but you knew before long

At the end of the day there'd be a road to lead you home.