Steady Hands, Wilder Men

I exist as a shadow, a ghost,

slipping beneath the trees like the wind.

But I am a man, carrying my flesh and my weight,

my spurs jingling like a church bell at dawn.

I know the creases in the eyes of a liar

and how fear snatches at the gut before guns are drawn.

I know that the quickest hands don’t always win,

but that the steadiest ones never lose.

The law lays stitched into my coat,

stars pinned across my chest in the shape of a brand.

Not for them, but for me.

Something cleaner then blood

and truer then the silver flash of a blade’s edge.

They say the west is wild,

but I’ve dueled wilder men,

ones who think the colors on us are wild,

and I teach the wild otherwise.

London Sanford ‘25

Steady Hands, Wilder Men portrays the balance of powerful patience shown in the age-old story of Bass Reeves, the first African American deputy U.S. marshal who is considered the real-life inspiration for the Lone Ranger.