Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE LAST RODEO, by LILLIAN CAROLINE CANFIELD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE LAST RODEO, by                    
First Line: Fools! I have heard the beat of the last rodeo
Last Line: On the white dust roads that writhe in the sacramento.
Subject(s): California; Rodeos


Fools! I have heard the beat of the last Rodeo
On the white dust roads that writhe in the Sacramento;
On the scorching roads that wind in the western valley,
Arid and vast, but food for a lighted match.
And in the eye of my quickening mind
I have seen the long line of cow-punchers
Riding on plunging bronchos;
Cow-punchers browned and burned beneath their broad fedoras.
The lariat, coiled on the saddle horn,
Hangs prepared to foil the struggles
Of the maddened bullock and the savage horse,
Pitted against the steel of its slender fiber.
Red, green and orange trappings in bold confusion
Collide with the sun-parched landscape.
Only the spotted steer is brooding,
Whose dripping flanks quiver in sullen anger.
He loathes the swarthy Peon astride his rigid back:
That half-breed devil worthy a bed of cactus—
Deserving a dinner of chaparral.
The sweeping yells of the wild cortege
Echo across the prairies.
The swearing, virile sons of another epoch dash on,
Ploughing the spur in the sides of impetuous pintos;
And only the memory of their flaunting colors
Is left to dazzle my longing eyes!

Knights of the swivel-chairs, molding in office buildings,
This is the last round-up of the old West
That lives alone in empty pantomimes of vapid brass.

Fools! I have heard the beat of the last Rodeo
On the white dust roads that writhe in the Sacramento.





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