Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.
Women OutlawsN. Howard Thorp
T
A glamour of the West,
Round the names of women outlaws
Who have now gone to their rest:
Pike Kate, and Altar Doane,
Calamity Jane, Sister Cummings,
And the Rose of Cimmaron.
“I’d go to Hell for you!”
About these women outlaws
That saying was too true.
For the man she loved the best;
Close by his side on many a wild ride
Through the mountains of the West.
On the great un-screened western stage,
Where the mountains were their platform,
Their stage-setting rocks and sage.
Always on the run,
Every man’s hand against them,
They fought, and often won.
They’d have to fight and stand;
And die as game as any man,
With a gun in either hand.
For you did what you thought best;
And the same wild blood that coursed your veins
Has settled up the West.
Knew not the word of fear—
And ’tis the dauntless courage of your kind
That bred the pioneer!