up on the hill

there once was a guy named bill he had a mule and a dog and lived on a hill the mule wore a hat made in spain and the dog had an old tin can for a brain the dog’s name was frankie lee what else would it be? the mule was called sleepytime joe he always went with the flow they did not get many visitors revenue men or spanish inquisitors an occasional lightning bolt would give them a nudge or a jolt trees grew on the hill the way trees will birds lived in the branches and took their chances snakes crawled on the ground some bigger than others and bears and possums avoided them if they had their druthers one day bill got a postcard from a lawyer in the town and terrible things transpired but nobody wrote them down bill and joe and frankie lee are no longer to be found but a portion of their old black stove still sticks up from the ground