Buffalo Bill in Doncaster

Buffalo Bill in Doncaster

(This is a poem about Jimmy Chellsford who went with his parents to see Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in October, 1904.)

Tis Buffalo Bill!
Tis Buffalo Bill!
with greying hair
and whitened beard;

A voice that booms
From the Hill,
And Annie Oakley!
with guns that kill.

Buffalo Bill!
Buffalo Bill!

Cheyenne
and Pawnee,
Sioux and
Arapaho:
Feathers for
A thrill


And buffalo -
More than ever seen-
Trampling
O'er the Hill.

Wigwams on
The Common
A Yorkshire wind
That spills

Leaves that caught
The 'tache and beard
The tassled coat
And tousled hair
Of big ol' Bill.

He whooped and whooped
around the bend,
one hand on a steer:

He scooped a hanky
from the ground
riding at top gear.


And Injuns staged
an ambush,
Then danced around
A pole,

Smoked peace pipes
Lit bonfires
Raised smoke
as black as coal.

Buffalo and
his cowdudes
rode a stagecoach by,

The bad guys
with their faces hid
let those sixguns fly -

Ol' Buffalo with his
rifle looked each man
in the eye -

Downed them one
by wicked one -
see their horses fly!


Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill

The Yorkshire rain
don't dampen his will

Give it up for
Buffalo Bill!

Tony Hamid

3rd November 2017