SHUFFLE OFF TO BUFFALO...
The Smell may be hell
From this lumbering beast,
But to its place in the West
We all should attest.
For all of its assets,
From its fur to its meat,
Thet danged big anamuel
Was shore hard to beat!
Thim injins were wiser
Than us, that’s for shore,
Cause they honored it wisely
And worshipped it more*
Than all of us whiteskins
Who came west to explore.
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*[Than ‘cept’n mebbe the Gray Wolf,
Another contender
But not a dead-ender,
Who was also a fan
Of that big omnivore!]
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For an original rendering of this hoary old chestnut of a hit 30s era song, see here:
For a fascinating history of this fabulous animal, see here.
Kalikiano's Amazon author's webpage
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I never was downwind of a bison to catch that smell. But one time at our little town zoo, my cousin and I were petting a calf that got close to the open wire fence. Suddenly, the big bull got wild eyed and ran into the 5 inch in diameter wood post that supported the fence and it broke off right at the ground level right were my cousin was standing! It's a good thing that the fence continued to hold the post up, for if it had fallen, we would've been in big trouble.
Buffalo robes came in mighty handy when it dropped below zero on the northern plains. When the buffalo meat ran out, they ate the dogs until spring. Hardy people, those Lakota Sioux.
Missed an opportunity for buffalo at Mesa Verde, but later, when we stopped at the hangout of the heirs to Sam Wall's fortune, the restaurant there served buffalo steak and I will have to agree that it was some of the best tasting steak I've ever eaten.
Ron
It's a worthy topic from out of the old west; a royal subject, indeed.
And, Kalikiano Kalei rides it with humorous rhetoric and poetic phrases deftly tucked within couplets of rhyme attesting to the creature's assets of fur, meat and pungent aroma, all of which satisfied those wisest of "injins," the mighty Lakota Sioux and the other buffalo contender and fan . . . the Gray Wolf.
Nice job on this poem Kalikiano Kalei - but, then, what else should one expect from a perfectionist and a professional poet and author?
By Dennis Lid