August thirteenth, AD 1860
A sweet baby girl, Phoebe Ann Mosey
Born on a farm in Darke County, Ohio
Eight children, two bedrooms, a farmhouse quite cozy
By age seven Annie hunted to help bring in money
This child was a natural with her firearm
Taking her kill to the general store dealer
Eight years, she’d paid off the mortgage on the farm
Spring Eighty-One, to the south in Cincinnati
Marksman Frank Butler arrived with his act
He bet fifty dollars with hotelman Jack Frost
“I’ll beat any shooter, and that, Sir’s, a fact!”
Jack Frost and Frank Butler rode up to Darke County
To Frank’s amazement, a five-foot female
His opponent in shooting live birds
They took turns, each targeting twenty-five quail
Twenty-four rounds and the two were dead even
Neither marksman had missed even one single shot
On his twenty-fifth bird, Frank made his sole error
And Annie then won the whole fifty-dollar pot
Frank later admitted, “She took me fair and square”
Head over heels, he thought Annie so dear
Adoring his poodle, she gave Frank a chance
The stars were aligned, they were wed in one year
They moved to Cincinnati, found a house in Oakley
That’s where Annie obtained her famous stage name
She joined Frank’s act in Over-the-Rhine
The start of her journey to world-wide fame
Several years later, Frank and Annie moved on
Joining Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show
Seventeen years, North America and Europe
Queen Victoria, the Kaiser, and King Umberto
Annie’s marksmanship was other-worldly
She shot dimes and playing cards tossed in the air
Hit targets behind her while looking in a mirror
Snuffed a burning candle and put out its glare
Annie Oakley left the show in Nineteen-O-Two
She fought for women’s rights, for daughters and sons
Gave money to orphanages and charities
Taught fifteen thousand women how best to use guns
Annie died in Darke County at age sixty-six
Pernicious anemia, that was her lot
Frank stopped eating food, died eighteen days later
Darke County, still together in their family plot
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