George Hunter - Buffalos

Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam
And I’ll show you a home
Where you dare not sit
‘Cause everything’s covered with buffalo chips.
Better that buffalos should stay outdoors
Than roaming my home upon all fours!

So out with you bison, outta my sight
And I’ll start the cleanup this very night.
Just like one of my favorite fables
The one about the Augean Stables.
Well, old Herk had nothing on me
‘Cause this pile of dung
Is something to see.
And could be called a monstros-it-tee.

So take all these animals by the horn
Back to the range where they were born
To live out their life on the lone prairie
Where they can be
A truly wondrous sight to see.
But it’s written, the species is over the hill
Just waiting to be slaughtered by Buffalo Bill.
So enjoy your freedom while you may
Or be a buffalo robe at the end of day.

As buffalo it came to fame
But Bison bison is really its name
Killed by the thousands they all died
Just for a tongue and a buffalo hide.
Now the species has gone to seed
A perfect example of white man’s greed.
Sold to the people back in the East
An infamous end for a noble beast.

Left to rot on the wide prairie
The Indians cried this sight to see.
For everything good will not last
The wheels of progress roll too fast
Crushing beneath them the good with the bad
Till their memory is all we had
To think of their passing has made me sad.

George Hunter

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/buffalos/