The Dangling Outlaw: A Poem

The Dangling Outlaw: A Poem

(inspired by a comment I posted on my friend Sherrie de Valeria's blog:

https://sherriedevaleriahendrie.wordpress.com/2016/05/08/what-you-refuse-to-know/

)

So gather around the campfire friends while I tell the tale
A tale that will make your faces ghostly pale
It's the story of the Dangling Outlaw
a tale that will make your skin craw'


Sam Ryan was his name
Outlawing was his game
He robbed trains
splattered brains
of men he shot in the street
keeping his vest and tie neat


He robbed banks
never said thanks
He rustled cattle
and stole a baby's rattle


Sam Ryan was as mean as mean could be
and dangled many a saloon girl on his knee
He laid them here
He laid them there
He laid them almost everywhere
like eggs from the Easter Bunny- that noble hare


 Finally one day a posse was rounded up
and as Sam slept at the bar holding on to a cup
He was grabbed and taken away
The posse rode for many a day
until on the bare prairie
they found a lone tall tree

They threw a rope to the tallest branch
These men from the Double Square Ranch
And into the noose went Ryan's head
Grinned the sheriff, "You'll soon be dead"
They kicked the box from under him
And stood around drinking gin


But Ryan dangled and shouted "Never say die"
And as both the crow and time did fly
every one of the posse eventually succumbed to the Grim Reaper
And Sam lived 100 years into the Decade of the Beeper
but technology changed and so did the seasons
Why was Sam still alive? The universe has its reasons

30 years have passed since the Decade of the Beeper
And now Toms use their smart phone cameras to be a peeper
And occasionally they take a picture of Dangling Sam
And continue on their way without giving a damn


And Sam Ryan outlaw still dangles by rope on that lone prairie tree
He's had nothing to drink so nothing to pee
He still shouts at the top of his lungs
Far and wide as the prairie grass sprungs
"Never say die!" "Never say die!"
Great lines on silver screen come and go such as "Here's looking at you, kid" and "Mud in your eye"
But like repetitive parrot or Shakespearian actor who's forgotten his lines
Sam says the same thing over and over into these 2016 times
"Never say die!" Never say die!".


-A western narrative poem
  written by Christopher
 Sunday May 8th 2016.