Classic Poem

Take me back to Arizona as it was in early days,
Ere the cowboy on the ranges had the moving-picture craze.
Let me see the festive puncher, with his bronco on the run,
Coming into town and shooting up the landscape with his gun.
Let me see the chuckawalla and the Gila monster, too,
Of the murderous Apache let me get a fleeting view;
Let me see a frontier squabble as it was in days of yore,
When the " bad man " of the border waded in a sea of gore.

Take me back to Arizona and the plains of alkali,
On the cactus-covered mesa in the desert let me lie.
Let me hear the rattler rattling as he crawls about the sand,
And the restive cattle bawling as they feel the red-hot brand.
Let me see the city marshal make a gun-play in the street,
And a victim later buried with his boots upon his feet!
Take me back to Arizona — let me see a poker game
As in days when it was prudent not to ask a stranger's name.

Take me back to Arizona, where they " sized " a fellow, not
By the boodle which he carried, but the skill with which he shot!
Where the towns were short on water, but all-fired long on gin,
And there never was much mourning when a fellow-man " cashed in. "
Take me back among the ki-yotes and the centipedes and such,
Where a brand-iron was respected and a " rustler " hated much!
Take me back to Arizona when it lived a wild career,
And they had a man for breakfast every morning in the year!

Take me back to Arizona — Arizona rough and wild,
Where the days were dry and dusty and the whisky wasn't mild!
Let me live again those stirring frontier days when all was new,
When the faro banks were frequent — but the churches mighty few!
Let me join a sheriff's posse and get on a horse-thief's track,
Where a hanging-bee was likely if they brought the fellow back!
Take me back to Arizona in the palmy days I saw,
When high boot-heels were in fashion, and a six-gun was the law!