Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Cornhuskers. 1918.

34. Buffalo Bill

BOY heart of Johnny Jones—aching to-day?

Aching, and Buffalo Bill in town?

Buffalo Bill and ponies, cowboys, Indians?

Some of us know

All about it, Johnny Jones.

Buffalo Bill is a slanting look of the eyes,

A slanting look under a hat on a horse.

He sits on a horse and a passing look is fixed

On Johnny Jones, you and me, barelegged,

A slanting, passing, careless look under a hat on a horse.

Go clickety-clack, O pony hoofs along the street.

Come on and slant your eyes again, O Buffalo Bill.

Give us again the ache of our boy hearts.

Fill us again with the red love of prairies, dark nights, lonely wagons, and the crack-crack of rifles sputtering flashes into an ambush.