Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO A BISON; AFTER READING A RECENT ARTICLE ON HIS PRESERVATION, by PATRICK REGINALD CHALMERS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO A BISON; AFTER READING A RECENT ARTICLE ON HIS PRESERVATION, by                    
First Line: Creature, regards! What though river and prairie
Last Line: Since your mere mention brings dreams such as these!
Subject(s): Bison; Endangered Species


CREATURE, regards! What though river and prairie
Know not to-day the stampede of your horde,
See not the maelstrom of heads huge and hairy,
Hear not the thunder of hoof upon sward?
What though the plough breaks the trails where your following
Millions once surged like the flow of the tide,
And o'er your picturesque places of wallowing
Golden as sunrise the wheat stretches wide?

For there's romance in your veriest mention;
Camp-fires at nightfall and mountings at morn,
Wigwam and war-path again claim attention,
Hair-breadth escapes from your perilous horn!
Yes, when we read of you, boyhood comes back again,
(Shade of Mayne Reid and of Ballantyne too!)
And we're repelling a Red-skin attack again,
Strewing the lawn with belligerent Sioux!

Or, on our mustangs (the fire-breathing devils)
Madly we gallop with never a pull,
Close with your mob on the alkali levels
(Sometimes the garden), and drop the big bull!
Back to the waggons (the tool-shed or rockery),
Loose in the saddle to breakfast we ride,
Naught of contemptible cruet and crockery
Needs the proved plainsman when pemmican's fried!

Will you once more at Saskatchewan's regions
Thrive, as we hope, just as hardy and tough
As when the red man of old saw your legions
Blacken the plains from some prominent bluff?
Will the bronzed cow-puncher hear, when the twittering
Quail greet the morning, your truculent moo
Boom down the cañon where snow-peaks are glittering,
Soaring aloft to the fathomless blue?

Only your Totem can tell; so at present
Just let us wish you the peace of the hills,
Salt-lick and wallow, and pasturage pleasant,
Safe from the bullets of "Buffalo Bills";
Few, half domestic—the blood's not degenerate—
Long may you rule your park-ranges at ease,
And here's regards to you, creature, at any rate,
Since your mere mention brings dreams such as these!





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