THEY have waited over yonder through the long years' cloudy haze, Foes of the plume-topped bonnet, friends of the prairie days— Heroes of song and story, idols of picture and book, Sherman, dashing Phil Sheridan, Hazen and Howard and Crooke— Leaders who rode with the guidons, Custer and Merritt and Carr, Chiefs of the lost red legions, vanished and scattered afar— Sitting Bull and Satanta, Quanah and Rain-in-the-Face— Lance-thrusting, merciless riders, lords of a fast-dying race! Soldiers, plainsmen and rangers, chiefs of Comanche and Sioux, Such were his friends and his rivals, such were the Men whom he knew! He had seen the old West in its springtime, he was part of the days that are past, When the arrow and spear sought their targets, and the bullets were thick on the blast— When the buffalo herds rumbled onwards, with the sun glinting bright on each horn, And the Pony Express rode its mission, ere the wire and the railroad were born— He lived on past the Time that has vanished—but the trail of his warrior- life ends— Scout, plainsman, and slayer of chieftains—at last he has followed his friends! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SUGAR-PLUM TREE by EUGENE FIELD RESIGNATION by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW NO PLEDGES by FLORA J. ARNSTEIN THE AUTHOR'S PARTING ADDRESS TO THE MUSE by BERNARD BARTON EPITAPH ON MR. TURNER OF ST. MARY-HALL by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) IN THE FOREST by MAURICE BUCHOR THE DISCARD by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON SONGS OF THE SEA CHILDREN: 45 by BLISS CARMAN THE LIFE OF HUBERT: MEMORIES OF A DORSET BOYHOOD IN THE 1730S by THOMAS COLE (1727-1796) |