who despite being dead

embedded

all he said

with lead

could make you dead

too if that's it

for you,

oh dummy

of text,

be it western or mex?

He had grace like a swallow's,

nothing unfallow,

"Elizabethan" at root

with sideburns to boot,

quick on trigger,

also with jigger,

kept an apt time,

walked with a rhyme.

I loved his style

and his guile,

no friend to the loser,

vapid day cruiser,

elsewise bamboozler.

My Ed was quondam god

from human sod

who spoke not loud

but always clear and proud,

often with acid edge--

his pledge

to keep the faith

stays constant to this day.