The funeral was Saturday, a gorgeous Virginia October day full of autumn sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. Out of the many lovely floral arrangements, one stood out as individual as the man it commemorated.
His saddle, decorated with a huge display of orange lilies done in a way that managed to be tasteful and attractive while evoking memories of many days riding Mason’s Neck. A solo guitar player sang the Randy Travis song “I thought he walked on water” and I was dry eyed until I saw tucked in among the flowers a few peacock feathers, gleaming, their iridescence enhanced by the vibrancy of the lilies. Yeah, I cried.
He wore starched white shirts
Buttoned at the neck
And he’d sit in the shade and watch the chickens peck
And his teeth were gone, but what the heck
I thought that he walked on water.
Said he was a cowboy when he was young
He could handle a rope and he was good with a gun
And my momma’s daddy was his oldest son
And I thought that he walked on water.
And if the story was told
Only Heaven knows.
But his hat seemed to me
Like an old halo.
And though his wings,
They were never seen
I thought he walked on water.
And he tied a cord to the end of a mop,
And said son here’s your pony
Keep her at a trot.
And I’d ride in circles while he laughed alot
Then I’d flop down beside him
He was ninety years old in '63
And I loved him and he loved me
And, Lord, I cried the day he died
'Cause I thought that he walked on water
If the story was told
Only Heaven knows.
But his hat seemed to me
Like an old halo.
And though his wings,
They were never seen
I thought he walked on water.
Yea, I thought that he walked on water…
