James Dickey - Before pg. 5-6 "Lewis" lyrics

Lewis was the only man I knew Who could do with his life exactly what he wanted to But in his mind he was always leaving Always going somewhere Always doing something else These techniques and mystiques had built up him Something that impressed me a good deal, even so He was not only self-determined; he was determined He was one of the best tournament archers in the state And, even at the age of thirty-eight or -nine, One of the strongest men I had ever shaken hands with He lifted weights and shot arrows every day In a special kind of alternating rhythm And as a result was so steady That he could easily hold a sixty-pound bow at full draw for twenty seconds I once saw him k** a quail with an aluminum target arrow at forty yards, The arrow diving into the back feathers at the possible instant So I usually went with him whenever he asked I had a bow that he helped me pick out, and a few tags and odds of secondhand equipment, And it was enjoyable walking in the woods with Lewis, When the weather was good, as it usually is in our part of the South in hunting season Because it took place in such pleasant country, And because of Lewis, I liked field archery With its faint promise of one day k**ing a deer Better than golf but it was really just Lewis He was the only man I knew Determined to get something out of life Who had both the means and the will to do it, And it interested me to see how, As an experiment, this turned out