LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 CliapVl Copyright No. 
 
 Shelf.fxM.A7 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
ALAMO 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER VERSES 
 
 From the desert I come to thee ' 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 EDWARD McQueen gray 
 
 Croftonhill Ranch, Florence, New Mexico 
 
 LONDON 
 
 Care of A. & F. DENNY 
 
 304 Strand, W. C. 
 
 WO CO' 
 
 ^\/j 
 
 A^ 
 
Tl? t7^ ^ 
 
 2875 
 
 Copyright 
 MDCCCXCVIII 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD McQueen gray 
 
 ENTERED AT STATIONERS HALL 
 
 A II rights reserved 
 
Parue nee inuideo sine me liber ibis in urbem 
 Hei mihi quo domino non licet ire tuo. 
 
 Uade liber uerbisque meis loca grata saluta 
 Contingam certe quo licet ilia pede. 
 
 Longa uia est propera nobis habitabitur orbis 
 Ultimus a terra terra remota mea. 
 
TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 The proceeds of the sale of this little volume are 
 to be applied in defraying the expenses of a Free 
 Circulating Library and Literary Institute at Florence, 
 New Mexico. Access to a store of sound literature 
 is a social need, and nowhere is it more urgent than 
 in this secluded district, remote from the centres of 
 civilization and cut off. by its isolated position from 
 the common interchange of thought and knowledge. 
 It is the earnest desire of the writer to mitigate as 
 far as possible this intellectual deprivation, and he 
 places his book in the hands of the public in the 
 hope that by their kindly support he may win for 
 his desire fulfilment. All who feel sufficiently inter- 
 ested in the matter to wish for information as to the 
 progress of the enterprise are cordially invited to 
 communicate with the writer. 
 
 7 
 
PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. 
 n S it seems probable that the sales of this Book 
 
 n 
 
 ' ' will be considerable, and the resulting profit 
 larger than was at first anticipated, the writer has 
 decided to place the proceeds in the Bank of Ros- 
 well, to form a fund to be entitled tlie Free Library 
 Fund, which, after provision has been made for this 
 district, will be applied to such other localities as 
 shall seem most likely to derive benefit therefrom. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 To America : Proem . 
 
 Alamo .... 
 
 mocking-bird 
 
 In Arcady 
 
 The Lone Star of Texas 
 
 At the Meet 
 
 Epoue .... 
 
 Dear Little Friend . 
 
 To the Pecos Valley 
 
 Sweet Emma Moreland 
 
 The Exile's Message 
 
 Victoria 
 
 Heart of the Sea 
 
 I Called to Love 
 
 Three Wishes 
 
 Rio Pecos, Pecos River 
 
 L'Envoi 
 
 PAGE 
 II 
 
 i6 
 
 50 
 57 
 61 
 69 
 
 77 
 
 80 
 
 84 
 
 89 
 
 92 
 
 98 
 
 105 
 
 117 
 
 127 
 
 147 
 164 
 
TO AMERICA: PROEM. 
 
 Chief daughter of a lordly race, 
 
 The eldest-born and mightiest thou, 
 
 Freedom is in thy step, and grace 
 Is on thy brow. 
 
 Lo, where thy spreading garments sweep 
 From icy North to torrid South, 
 
 Atlantic and Pacific leap 
 To kiss thy mouth. 
 
 From keys where endless summer burns. 
 Land that of seasons knows but one, 
 
 To yon dim Cape that vainly yearns 
 For sight of sun. 
 
12 TO AMERICA : PROEM, 
 
 About thy head the icel)ergs meet, 
 Near neighbour of the frozen sea; 
 
 The Gulfstream bathes thy burning feet 
 And smiles at thee. 
 
 Before the rising sun can gild 
 The edge of thy Pacific Slope, 
 
 Thy Eastern noon has seen fulfilled 
 The morning's hope. 
 
 The weary day has sunk to rest 
 Long since on thy Atlantic shores; 
 
 Yet still on Catalina's crest 
 The sunlight pours. 
 
 Among thy sons I see thee stand. 
 Thy firm dominion none assails; 
 
 Across a thousand leagues of land 
 Thy word prevails. 
 
TO AMERICA : PROEM. I3 
 
 Amid the blaze imperial 
 
 Of high and haughty dynasty 
 I see thee pass, thy coronal 
 
 Simplicity. 
 
 Unvanqiiished Virgin of the West! 
 
 Undaunted daughter of the Dawn ! 
 Remember that from England's breast 
 
 Thy milk was drawn. 
 
 We blame thee not that thou didst cast 
 The hand that would restrain away, 
 
 And deemed the rule that held thee fast 
 A tyrant's sway. 
 
 We bear no grudge that thou didst win 
 The fight that left thy nation free ; 
 
 Our hearts were with thee then, thy kin 
 Approved of thee. 
 
14 TO AMERICA : PROEM. 
 
 Yet think not short-lived injuries 
 Endured a while, avenged at last, 
 
 Outweigh the glorious centuries 
 Together passed. 
 
 Partaker in our ancient fame, 
 Our history thy heritage. 
 
 The herald scrolls of England claim 
 Thy lineage. 
 
 Thou art a sister of the Blood; 
 
 Thou art a daughter of the House ; 
 Great offspring of a giant brood. 
 
 Thy heart arouse: 
 
 Upon the shore thy brothers stand. 
 Thy mother looks across the sea; 
 
 Sister, step forth and take the hand 
 She oflfers thee. 
 
TO AMERICA : PROEM. 15 
 
 Forgotten be the former feud, 
 
 Remembered not the bitter score, 
 Be mutual love and faith renewed 
 
 For evermore. 
 
 Cousin — for thou no colder name 
 From lips of mine shalt ever hear- 
 
 Behold, I come to thee and claim 
 A word of cheer. 
 
ALAMO. 
 
 A lurid lustre cast 
 
 Upon the page of Time 
 
 Displays a dismal past 
 
 Of havoc and a sight 
 
 Of sacrifice sublime, 
 
 Of heroes burning bright 
 
 With patriotic fire; 
 
 A solemn funeral pyre. 
 That holy ground, that sacred sod. 
 Where once the Mission fathers trod 
 And humbly knelt before their God, 
 
 More sacred, holier far 
 Became when streamed the crimson flood 
 Of patriots who for freedom stood, 
 And stained thy altar with their blood, 
 
 Antonio de Bexar. 
 i6 
 
ALAMO, 17 
 
 A peaceful convent stood 
 
 Within a precinct wall; 
 
 Where once the cottonwood 
 
 Its grateful shadow gave, 
 
 The Mission bell would call 
 
 Comanche squaw and brave 
 
 To worship and to prayer; 
 
 What thought of bloodshed there? 
 Yet stricken field has never seen 
 A sterner shock, a fight more keen, 
 More ruthless, than the final scene 
 
 Thy ruined walls can show. 
 When those whose souls' heroic flame 
 Opposing thousands could not tame, 
 In death immortalized thy name, 
 
 Memorial Alamo. 
 
 Though spring had hardly shown 
 Her face upon the land. 
 Her harbingers had blown 
 
i8 ALAMO. 
 
 The sullen winter north. 
 By southern breezes fanned 
 A warmer air put forth, 
 All nature with its breath 
 To wake to life from death. 
 So Texas woke, the tyrant's chain 
 Regarding with a high disdain, 
 Upon her country's sons in pain 
 
 Called loud for aid, and then 
 From east to west the answer rang, 
 To arms the fearless Texan sprang, 
 The land resounded with the clang 
 And tramp of armed men. 
 
 Alas, that sunshine brief 
 The chord had scarcely stirred 
 Of happiness, when grief 
 The champaign overspread. 
 A wintry blast was heard; 
 Down dropped the Hly dead; 
 
ALAMO. 
 
 Upon the land below- 
 Lay like a pall the snow. 
 Devoted Texas! swiftly passed 
 That day of joy, and with the blast 
 Of chill defeat that overcast 
 Thy sky of hope, a foe 
 That knew no mercy, honour none, 
 Inhuman cut-throats every one, 
 Moved on to train the deadly gun 
 On San Antonio. 
 
 The tale were long to tell 
 Of Spanish tyranny; 
 By Mexican as well 
 The Texan settler crushed 
 Demanded liberty 
 In vain, then fiercely rushed 
 Upon the foe, in flame 
 And sword his nation's name 
 To vindicate, and prove again 
 
 19 
 
ALAMO. 
 
 The sons of Norman, Saxon, Dane, 
 That swept the Spaniard from the main 
 
 And cast him on the strand, 
 As dauntless were and reckless still, 
 As fit to curb the Spaniards' will, 
 And make him humbly own their skill 
 
 In battle on the land. 
 
 Within a space of days 
 Scarce thought upon, so swift 
 They passed, the victor's bays 
 Had graced each warrior's brow. 
 Short was the tyrant's shrift; 
 A day of triumph now 
 The patriots had won; 
 For them still shone the sun. 
 Then first the Texan's haughty foe 
 Beheld amid his overthrow 
 The flag he later learned to know 
 Too well, when from Bexar 
 
ALAMO. 21 
 
 His sullen squadrons backward drew, 
 And flauntingly flung forth to view, 
 Blazed out upon a field of blue 
 Alone, a golden star. 
 
 The men that gathered there 
 
 Were heroes one and all; 
 
 Was naught they would not dare 
 
 To do in freedom's cause; 
 
 Adventurers we call 
 
 Those who but Nature's laws 
 
 Obey, and scorn man's creed; 
 
 Yet in the hour of need 
 Such men as those have saved a state; 
 They dare to challenge death and fate. 
 Like that old man who from debate 
 
 And council breaking free. 
 Cried, laying bare his locks of snow, 
 " With old Ben Milam who will go 
 Right into San Antonio? 
 
 Up, boys, and follow me ! " 
 
ALAAfO. 
 
 That gallant fighter led 
 
 Three hundred such as he; 
 
 Among the deathless dead 
 
 Who paid for victory 
 
 His name will ever be 
 
 A living memory; 
 
 And Texas still shall tell 
 
 The spot where Milam fell. 
 Four days, four nights, the fighting sped, 
 From house to house the foemen fled, 
 The streets were cumbered with the dead 
 
 In San Antonio: 
 Till on the fifth, in headlong flight 
 Hurled from the plaza, in affright 
 The foe fell back, and banner white 
 
 Disgraced the Alamo. 
 
 The victory was won, 
 The struggle overpast; 
 And ere the set of sun 
 
ALAMO. 23 
 
 The Mexican command 
 
 Departing, from the last 
 
 Of tyrants freed the land. 
 
 The young republic rose 
 
 Victorious o'er her foes. 
 Then, Texas, in thy triumph's hour, 
 From San Fernando's belfry tower 
 Rang out a chime that swept with power 
 
 To Mission Concepcion: 
 Then San Jose and far San Juan 
 Took up the peal and passed it on, 
 Till San Francisco's bastion 
 
 Reechoed with the tone. 
 
 On distant Mexico 
 The news of her disgrace 
 Fell like a sudden blow. 
 The tyrant deeply swore 
 To extirpate the race 
 Of rebels and in gore 
 
24 ALAMO. 
 
 To wipe away the shame 
 
 Of downfall from the name 
 Of that mixed horde whose lineage base, 
 Declining from the courtly race 
 That bore the Don's patrician face, 
 
 Hidalgo and Creole, 
 Had reached a vile and mongrel crew. 
 Mestizo convicts dark of hue, 
 Besotted clods, who hardly knew 
 
 Possession of a soul. 
 
 Four thousand men on foot 
 And half as many more 
 On horseback took the route 
 That eastward leads below 
 The Rio Grande's shore 
 To San Antonio. 
 The ravage of their hand 
 Spread terror through the land. 
 Where then was Texas? From afar 
 
ALAMO. 25 
 
 Her sons beheld the tide of war 
 Roll on unchecked, nor dared to bar 
 
 Its passage, and the foe 
 Pressed on amid the cannon's boom 
 In serried ranks, while sullen gloom 
 And sad presentiment of doom 
 
 Held San Antonio. 
 
 Some six or seven score 
 
 Of stalwart volunteers 
 
 The city reached before 
 
 The enemy drew nigh. 
 
 Men those that knew not tears, 
 
 Stern-lipped and keen of eye; 
 
 Theirs not to heed or care, 
 
 Theirs but to do and dare. 
 There dauntless Travis led his band. 
 There Bowie made his desperate stand, 
 And reckless Crockett from the land 
 
 Of distant Tennessee 
 
26 ALAMO. 
 
 Burst in with twelve backwoodsmen bold, 
 Cast in the same heroic mould, 
 And shouted, '' Fellows, we've been told 
 We've got to die with ye! " 
 
 Among them thought of flight 
 
 Or fear of death was none, 
 
 But rather fierce delight 
 
 Through those wild spirits spread. 
 
 What though the morrow's sun 
 
 Should see them cold and dead? 
 
 To them a gambler's stake 
 
 Was life, to lose or take. 
 Men call the desperado's fame 
 His land's abasement, yet the same 
 Fierce fire has blazed with kindred flame 
 
 Within her noblest sons. 
 When heroes rapt with courage high. 
 Shoulder to shoulder, hand and eye 
 Unswerving, calmly march to die 
 
 Before the belching guns. 
 
ALAMO. 27 
 
 At midnight, while the dance 
 Was at its height, a cry 
 Was heard, " The foe advance ! 
 And soon the roUing drum 
 Proclaimed the danger nigh. 
 The hour of fate had come. 
 By noon the hostile van 
 Had reached the Alazan, 
 Where Santa Anna, with a face 
 Betokening nor ruth nor grace, 
 His squadrons halting for a space 
 Upon the heights that crown 
 The mesa, sent abroad his fleet 
 Guerrilla horse, to bar retreat 
 Or hope of succour and complete 
 The leaguer of the town. 
 
 The foe came slowly on ; 
 The volunteers withdrew 
 In order every one 
 
28 ALAMO. 
 
 Towards the Alamo. 
 When Santa Anna knew 
 The thrice accursed foe 
 Lay thus within his gripe 
 He laughed aloud, and ripe 
 For slaughter, with a monster's glee 
 Destruction in supreme degree 
 Prepared for those who scorned to flee 
 
 Before his motley horde, 
 This mandate sending, they should take 
 If aught they cared for life's sweet sake 
 What terms soe'er he willed to make; 
 If not, then fire and sword 
 Should be the rebel's fate; 
 Such was his h.aughty word. 
 His messengers, elate 
 And sure of victory 
 Returning, quickly heard 
 The volunteers' reply. 
 Aloud the cannon spoke, 
 And from the Texans broke 
 
ALAMO. 29 
 
 A shout that grandly through the blue 
 Rang out from loyal hearts and true, 
 And Santa Anna surely knew 
 
 His foemen one and all 
 Were men in battle's burning light 
 Exulting, still their souls' delight 
 In freedom's cause to fiercely fight 
 
 And fiercely fighting fall. 
 
 Such was the answer stern 
 That gallant Travis gave; 
 May still as brightly burn 
 The fire of liberty 
 Within us, and the grave 
 Seem but a mockery 
 Of words, a thing of naught, 
 And freedom cheaply bought 
 By life laid down in honour's cause, 
 When to defend her soil and laws 
 Our country bids us to the jaws 
 
30 ALAMO. 
 
 Of death and hell advance; 
 Then, freemen, at your nation's call, 
 Lay on like men, and if ye fall. 
 Your country's banner be your pall, 
 And count it happy chance 
 To die a hero's death; 
 'Tis sanctified of God; 
 Short is our mortal breath, 
 But an immortal life 
 Is theirs who, on the sod 
 A consecrated strife 
 Has hallowed, for their land 
 Fall by a tyrant's hand. 
 To us the name of Travis still 
 Stands for indomitable will 
 And purpose undisturbed by chill 
 
 Disaster or defeat; 
 Immovable as some sea wall 
 On which in vain the billows fall, 
 He calmly wrote : " I never shall 
 " Surrender or retreat." 
 
ALAMO. 31 
 
 What leader ever spoke 
 A more inspiring word? 
 The serf's degrading yoke 
 Can never bow the necks 
 Of those whose souls are stirred 
 To such resolve, nor vex 
 The men for whom the light 
 Of freedom burning bright 
 Within their hearts a guiding star 
 Becomes that beckons from afar 
 And leads them on, of peace and war 
 
 The arbiter supreme; 
 Before it see the tyrant cower, 
 Thrones totter, and unholy power, 
 Deathstricken, shrivel like a flower 
 Beneath that scorching beam. 
 
 Twelve days unceasing falls 
 The cannon's deadly shower 
 Upon the Mission walls; 
 
32 ALAMO. 
 
 Yet ever undismayed 
 The Texans in the hour 
 Of that fierce cannonade 
 Disdain the growing breach, 
 And fiercely long to reach 
 The craven Mexicans who lurk 
 Like dogs behind the lurid murk 
 Of powder-smoke and basely shirk 
 
 The final touch of war; 
 While still their foe's defiant call 
 Rings bravely from the crumbling wall, 
 Still floats unsullied over all 
 The lonely golden star. 
 
 Will never succour come? 
 Must those brave men be left 
 To face a nation's scum 
 Alone, and end their days 
 Abandoned and bereft 
 Like very castaways 
 
ALAMO. 33 
 
 Of all deliverance? 
 
 Must hopelessness enhance 
 The bitterness of death, and fate 
 Relentless as their foemen's hate 
 Pursue them ever, and create 
 
 With its resistless power 
 A severance yet more complete 
 From all that makes existence sweet? 
 Must they forlorn, forsaken, greet 
 
 The final, fatal hour? 
 
 Alas! those fighters bold 
 That gathered for the right 
 Shall never now behold 
 Another morrow's birth. 
 The prevalence of might 
 Is paramount on earth. 
 The victory of wrong 
 Is sure, for evil strong 
 Encompasseth us all, the taint 
 3 
 
34 ALAMO. 
 
 Of man's corruption maketh faint 
 The breath of justice, and the plaint 
 
 Of suffering unmeet 
 Unheeded passes evermore, 
 While blockish multitudes before 
 Success fall prostrate and adore 
 
 Their idol's earthen feet. 
 
 Yet one exulting throb 
 Of pride those heroes knew. 
 When through the savage mob 
 Of mongrel soldiery 
 Burst Bonham's thirty-two 
 Brave comrades with a cry 
 That woke a joyous thrill 
 In every heart and chill 
 Abandonment's embittering sense 
 Dispelled for ever, while intense 
 Delight of fellowship drove thence 
 
ALAMO. 35 
 
 Their sagging doubts and fears; 
 No more they felt themselves alone, 
 Contentment in their faces shone, 
 The shell-torn Mission's every stone 
 
 Reechoed to their cheers. 
 
 While every soldier pressed 
 
 A gallant comrade's hand 
 
 And felt with swelling breast 
 
 The sense of brotherhood 
 
 Upholding him to stand 
 
 Unflinchingly, his blood 
 
 To shed as one who throws 
 
 A bauble from him, blows 
 And wounds, with mangled flesh and torn. 
 Contemning with the lofty scorn 
 That those to noblest uses born 
 
 May feel for meaner souls 
 Who dully drag a weary load 
 Of self along the dreary road 
 Of life, while greed's corroding goad 
 
 Their destinv controls. 
 
36 ALAMO, 
 
 Think what devotion means, 
 Ye men of colder blood, 
 Like theirs, who in such scenes 
 As these can scorn the path 
 That seems to others good 
 And rather brave the wrath 
 Of tyrants to the death 
 Than draw a coward's breath. 
 Of these devoted martyrs each 
 Put safety calmly from his reach, 
 Resolved inflexibly to teach 
 
 By his life's sacrifice 
 The lesson nations need to learn, 
 And tyranny doth surely earn, 
 The lesson that the despot stern 
 Has never needed twice. 
 
 Nearer and nearer yet 
 The day of trial draws; 
 On tottering parapet 
 
ALAMO. yj 
 
 And crumbling Mission wall 
 
 The shells with never pause 
 
 From twoscore cannon fall. 
 
 Till gaping breaches made 
 
 By bomb and carronade 
 Reveal the Texan volunteers 
 To Santa Anna's cannoneers 
 Replying with derisive cheers, 
 
 Defiant to a fault. 
 " What, none but these? " the Mexican 
 Exclaimed, " and shall that rebel clan 
 Defy me thus? Let every man 
 
 Advance to the assault! " 
 
 All night the measured tramp 
 Of marching men, the shout 
 Of orders from the camp 
 Was heard, and with the light 
 Behind each grim redoubt 
 Stood clustered troops; to right 
 
38 ALAMO, 
 
 And left, in front and rear, 
 
 Their serried ranks appear. 
 Three thousand men before that frail 
 And falling bulwark, to assail 
 A scant two hundred — did they quail. 
 
 Those Texan volunteers? 
 We are not told, but surely feel 
 That men like those, with nerves of steel, 
 In war's stern shock will never reel. 
 
 Can never taste of fears. 
 
 Short was the breathing space; 
 The trumpet sounds the charge; 
 Across the deadly place 
 A thousand soldiers dash. 
 Like some unwieldy barge 
 That drives with rending crash 
 Upon a jagged rock 
 And quivers at the shock 
 
ALAMO. 39 
 
 From stem to stern, then toppling back 
 With starting seams and yawning crack 
 Drifts helplessly to utter wrack 
 
 Upon the ruthless beach, 
 In swift discomfiture, pell mell, 
 The scared battalions backward fell; 
 As welcome as the mouth of hell 
 
 To them was that torn breach 
 
 Where stood their dauntless foes. 
 
 Twice they essayed to scale 
 
 The parapet and close 
 
 The struggle, but in vain. 
 
 What though a flimsy rail 
 
 But parted them? A rain 
 
 Of bullets and the thrust 
 
 Of bowie in the dust 
 Laid many a soldier low; the rest, 
 Like children from a hornet's nest, 
 Fled shrieking, and their bastard zest 
 
 For battle passed away; 
 No stomach they for such a draught. 
 
40 ALAMO. 
 
 Of valour's cup they had not quaffed, 
 They staggered; loud the Texans laughed 
 To note their disarray. 
 
 " Will not those rebels die? " 
 
 Cried Santa Anna, pale 
 
 With fury as his eye 
 
 Saw naught but broken lines 
 
 And marked his soldiers quail. 
 
 Shall convicts from the mines 
 
 With freemen ever cope? 
 
 Keep rather for the rope 
 Such slaves as these, nor dare to mar 
 With felon gangs the ranks of war. 
 Most lovely is the honoured scar 
 
 That tells of bravery ; 
 But loathliest the festered mark 
 That shows the chain's corroding cark 
 Has seared the spirit with the dark 
 
 Disgrace of slavery. 
 
ALAMO. 41 
 
 At that low wall askance 
 
 The swart mestizos gazed, 
 
 Nor dared again advance 
 
 Their columns to the fight. 
 
 Their leader, less amazed 
 
 Than maddened at the sight 
 
 Of arrant cowardice 
 
 That fears to jeopardize 
 Its worthless life, in fury cried, 
 *' My orders none has yet defied 
 And lived — the issue now abide. 
 
 You mongrel soldiery. 
 Let Sesma bid his squadrons wheel 
 Behind the lines and draw the steel 
 Upon these dogs, to make them feel 
 
 No choice but fight or die." 
 
 Again the trumpet sounds; 
 
 Again the fated few, 
 
 Like stags beset by hounds. 
 
42 ALAMO. 
 
 Or lion in a snare. 
 
 Unequal fight renew. 
 
 Bravest of brave were they; 
 
 Yet impotent to stay 
 With wearied arm and shattered sword 
 The course of that o'erwhelming horde 
 That through the breach tumultuous poured 
 
 Like ocean's swelling tide; 
 The foremost fall, yet wave on wave 
 Rolls in upon the vainly brave 
 And sweeps them backward where the grave 
 
 Impartial opens wide 
 
 Its soft maternal arms 
 
 To children of the earth, 
 
 Who sick of wanton harms 
 
 And unrelenting woe 
 
 That ever from their birth 
 
 Hath harassed them, below 
 
 The surge of tossing life 
 
 Sink from the bitter strife 
 To slumber deep and quiet rest. 
 
ALAMO, 43 
 
 As babes upon a mother's breast 
 Asleep, and lovingly caressed 
 
 By tender father's hand; 
 At home at last, their wandering o'er, 
 They find the peace on sea and shore 
 Long sought in vain, and leave no more 
 
 The best beloved land. 
 
 The butchery begins; 
 
 " Deguello! " is the cry; 
 
 And Santa Anna wins 
 
 The devil's victory. 
 
 Ah, what availeth high 
 
 Emprise or gallantry? 
 
 Yet fearless to the close 
 
 The Texans faced their foes. 
 From head to foot with gore imbrued, 
 Wounded to death, yet unsubdued. 
 Stern Travis, by a mob pursued. 
 
 Defiant to the last. 
 
44 ALAMO. 
 
 Turned fiercely with unbated will 
 Upon them, swung his arm to kill, 
 And shouting, " God and Texas still! '^ 
 That dauntless spirit passed. 
 
 His back against the wall, 
 Towards the foe his face, 
 Each Texan stood, the call 
 Of freedom answering. 
 To men thus dying, grace 
 Divine doth surely bring 
 Remission of ofifence 
 And purge sin's consequence 
 Away — earth knows no nobler end 
 Of life than his who for a friend 
 In need his blood will freely spend, 
 
 Tis sum of human love; 
 And those who feed the sacred flame 
 Of freedom with their blood may claim 
 As surely in their country's name 
 
ALAMO, 45 
 
 Forgiveness from above 
 
 For all their errors past. 
 
 Grant that their lives had been 
 
 Ignoble or unchaste : 
 
 May not the valour shown 
 
 In that concluding scene 
 
 For trespasses atone 
 
 And make their martyr blood 
 
 Acceptable to God? 
 What though the butcher tyrant's ire 
 Condemned their corpses to the pyre? 
 The smoke that rose from that fierce fire 
 
 To glut the victor's spite 
 Bore heavenward an incense sweet 
 That floated to the judgment seat 
 Of God above, and made complete 
 
 The sacrificial rite. 
 
 Ah, had the struggle been 
 More equal, less unfair, 
 
46 ALAMO. 
 
 That day had surely seen 
 
 An issue different. 
 
 Had Texas heard their prayer 
 
 And timely succour sent? 
 
 But one against a score! 
 
 Could gods themselves do more 
 Than those foredoomed to sacrifice, 
 Fast bound like falchion in a vice, 
 Or ship within the polar ice 
 
 Gripped to the bitter end? 
 What serves against the grinding floe 
 The strength of timbers but to show 
 That heart of oak in final throe 
 
 May break, but never bend? 
 
 Yet hold, nor idly waste 
 In profitless regret 
 A sigh for those who taste 
 The cup of martyrdom. 
 Mourn not for them, nor let 
 
ALAMO. 47 
 
 One note of sorrow come 
 From trembling lips and pale, 
 But rather proudly hail 
 Those scions of heroic breed, 
 Begotten of the self-same seed 
 As those who from a prince's greed 
 
 America set free; 
 For them no tear shall ever fall, 
 Be sung no dirge funereal. 
 But freedom's joyous festival 
 Their requiem shall be. 
 
 State of the Lonely Star! 
 These heroes died for thee; 
 They came from lands afar 
 Thy children sore bested 
 To succour and set free 
 From tyranny and dread. 
 They came and freely gave 
 Their blood thy land to save. 
 
48 ALAMO. 
 
 For thee they died — yet not in vain; 
 For in that bitter hour the chain 
 That kept thee servile broke in twain 
 
 For ever, and we know 
 How fiercely Texas rose in wrath 
 And swept the tyrant from her path 
 When San Jacinto's bloody swath 
 
 Avenged the Alamo. 
 
 O, liberty sublime! 
 
 Divinest gift of God ! 
 
 Defend throughout all time 
 
 Thy humblest proselyte. 
 
 And be the hallowed sod 
 
 That witnessed freedom's fight 
 
 A consecrated place 
 
 Where men may see thy face. 
 Hear thou the captive nation's prayer; 
 Arise, thy majesty declare, 
 Uphold the patriots who dare 
 
ALAMO. 49 
 
 A despot disobey; 
 Unsheath for them thy falchion bright, 
 Stand thou beside them in the fight, 
 And bring them safely to the light 
 
 Of freedom's glorious day. 
 4 
 
MOCKING-BIRD. 
 
 I awoke with the first flush of dawn, 
 While the mocking-bird out on the lawn 
 His paean was shrilling unresting and filling 
 My heart with the promise of morn, 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 My heart with the promise of morn. 
 
 I lay while the gathering light 
 Was surely defeating the night 
 And, tunefully swelling, thy music was telling 
 Of happiness, love, and delight, 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 Of happiness, love, and delight. 
 50 
 
MOCKING-BIRD. 51 
 
 And I knew the sweet singer of love, 
 The lark with the heart of the dove, 
 The thicket was haunting, unceasingly chanting 
 A hymn to his Maker above, 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 A hymn to thy Maker above. 
 
 I lay while the cadences rare 
 Were filling with music the air 
 And bidding God's creatures, thou sweetest of 
 teachers, 
 Rejoice, and His glory declare. 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 Rejoicing His glory declare. 
 
 I lay while the shuddering moon 
 Grew paler and paler, for soon 
 The sun, her fierce lover, would come and discover 
 Her heart to the pitiless noon, 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 Her heart to the pitiless noon. 
 
52 MOCKING-BIRD. 
 
 I lay till an amberine ray 
 Sped over the prairie to play 
 At gilding the leafage and marking the cleavage 
 Of night from the glorious day, 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 The cleavage of night from the day. 
 
 I lay till a lancet of flame. 
 Dashed swift with the passionate aim 
 Of the sunlight, was launched at the cottonwood 
 branched. 
 Whence the voice of thy melody came, 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 The voice of thy melody came. 
 
 It passed with a truculent glare 
 To the bower where his carolling rare 
 The singer was pouring forth, sweetly adoring 
 The God of the fowls of the air. 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 The God of the fowls of the air. 
 
MOCKING-BIRD. 53 
 
 It fell on his quivering throat, 
 And smote into silence the note 
 That rising and falling and plaintively calling, 
 Across the alfalfa did float, 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 Across the alfalfa did float. 
 
 It fell, and the minstrel was mute. 
 As when breath is withdrawn from the flute; 
 Or when a string breaking, its office forsaking. 
 Has silenced the voice of a lute, 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 The musical voice of a lute. 
 
 It fell, and the singer was still; 
 Was silent the tremulous trill 
 Whose lilting with gladness and sweetness and sad- 
 ness 
 The heart of thy hearer did fill. 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 The heart of thy hearer did fill. 
 
54 MOCKING-BIRD. 
 
 Was mute, while the thicket around 
 Still echoed the carolling sound, 
 Then softly decreasing and faintly surceasing 
 Sank into a silence profound, 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 Sank into a silence profound. 
 
 Was still, but I took up the song, 
 For a spirit that in me for long 
 Had slumbered, awaking, its silence was breaking, 
 And Poetry bore me along. 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 Ah, Poetry bore me along. 
 
 And I cried: O, thou marvellous bird. 
 By thy magical melody stirred, 
 All nature rejoices and musical voices 
 
 Once more by my spirit are heard, 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 The musical voices are heard. 
 
MOCKING-BIRD. 55 
 
 O bird, is thy singing of choice? 
 Or doth instinct but bid thee rejoice 
 While daintily lancing the twilight entrancing 
 With the shafts of thy quivering voice, 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 The quivering shafts of thy voice? 
 
 O bird, can I master thy art? 
 Sweet singer, O, give me a part 
 Of that jubilant magic, that tearfully tragic 
 Refrain of thy passionate heart. 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 That tragic refrain of thy heart. 
 
 O bird, I must pay thee a toll; 
 For breaking is sorrow's control; 
 Thy singing to gladness is changing my sadness, 
 And loosing the bonds of my soul. 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 Thou'rt loosing the bonds of my soul. 
 
56 MOCKING-BIRD. 
 
 O bird, with the song of the thrush, 
 The lark, and the Hnnet, ah, hush. 
 For the sound of thy singing has set my soul ringing 
 And music comes back with a rush. 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 Comes back to my soul with a rush. 
 
 O friend, I can take up thy strain. 
 Long, long was I silent and fain 
 Had ended the sorrow that came with each morrow. 
 But now I am singing again, 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 Ah, now I am singing again. 
 
 O brother, my summons is strong. 
 And the impulse that bears me along 
 My being shall never forsaking dissever 
 My heart from the music of song. 
 
 Mocking-bird, 
 The music, the music of song. 
 
IN ARCADY. 
 
 I seem to hear a distant sound, 
 
 The echo of a martial tread, 
 A muffled working underground, 
 
 An angry movement overhead; 
 The air is full of sullen fears, 
 
 A ribald shout, a bitter cry; 
 Their echoes hardly reach the ears 
 
 Of me who live in Arcady. 
 
 I read the once familiar names 
 Of Federation and of League; 
 
 Again the politician frames 
 
 His privy counsel and intrigue; 
 
 57 
 
58 IN ARCADY. 
 
 I once believed they could convulse 
 The globe and shape its destiny; 
 
 But now they hardly stir the pulse 
 Of me who live in Arcady. 
 
 The jarring world is sick with doubt, 
 
 The present fears futurity; 
 Discord within and foes without, 
 
 And jealous insecurity. 
 The hidden stab, the fatal shriek, 
 
 The bloody blade of treachery, 
 Thank God, can never blanch the cheek 
 
 Of me who live in Arcady. 
 
 The armies muster by the strait. 
 The foemen glare across the sea, 
 
 Beside their guns the gunners wait 
 The word that sets destruction free. 
 
IN ARCADY. 59 
 
 In grim display upon the deep 
 A nation's war-dogs watching lie; 
 
 Let slip — ye cannot break the sleep 
 Of me who live in Arcady. 
 
 Pale dweller by the city's gates, 
 
 By daily fret and struggle worn, 
 Go, herd thee with thy trivial mates. 
 
 And let me watch the growing corn. 
 Go, cast abroad thy dreary jest, 
 
 On Nature's bosom let me lie; 
 Can ne'er be thine the quiet rest 
 
 Of me who live in Arcady. 
 
 While genius charms a gaping town, 
 Be mine the task to turn the sod; 
 
 Let others court the jade Renown, 
 I trace in Nature Nature's God. 
 
6o IN ARCADY. 
 
 Laugh, scoffer, till the bitter close 
 
 Of life reveal its vanity; 
 Thou canst not know the calm repose 
 
 Of me who live in Arcady. 
 
 With grateful heart I bless the day 
 
 I grew aweary of the strife, 
 Turned from the wrangling crowd away 
 
 And sought a simpler, clearer life. 
 Here in seclusion let me dwell, 
 
 Here well contented let me die; 
 Life has no sweeter tale to tell 
 
 To me who live in Arcady. 
 
THE LONE STAR OF TEXAS. 
 
 Star of the State am I, 
 Liberty's token; 
 
 Gold, in an azure sky, 
 Shining unbroken. 
 
 Star hke the heart of man, 
 Woman's defender; 
 
 First in the battle's van 
 Scorning surrender. 
 
 When on the tented field 
 
 Patriots muster. 
 Full on the hero's shield 
 
 Glitters my lustre. 
 6i 
 
62 THE LONE STAR OF TEXAS. 
 
 Still in the herder's shed 
 Told is the story 
 
 How I my children led 
 Onward to glory. 
 
 Born in a bitter hour, 
 Offspring of sorrow; 
 
 Mighty the tyrant's power, 
 Gloomy the morrow. 
 
 Frail then and weak my light, 
 Hardly a shimmer; 
 
 Few to defend the right, 
 Hope daily dimmer. 
 
 Yet when the tyrant fast 
 Fettered would bind me. 
 
 Proudly I rose and cast 
 Bondage behind me; 
 
THE LONE STAR OF TEXAS. 63 
 
 Cried to my sisters all, 
 
 Liberty's daughters, 
 Straightway they heard my call, 
 
 Sped o'er the waters; 
 
 Swift in my hour of need 
 
 Hasting to aid me 
 Came, when a bastard breed 
 
 Would have betrayed me. 
 
 Firm at my side they stood, 
 
 Striking together; 
 Blood of the bond of blood 
 
 Tightened the tether. 
 
 Life that for others' sake 
 
 Freely is given 
 Link of the soul doth make 
 
 Hard to be riven: 
 
64 THE LONE STAR OF TEXAS. 
 
 Death, from the clasping hand 
 
 Not to be parted, 
 Knits with a sacred band 
 
 All the true-hearted. 
 
 Foiled see the foe depart, 
 Tyrant and craven; 
 
 Fear on the felon's heart 
 Deeply was graven. 
 
 Shone then my glory bright. 
 
 Brilliantly blazing; 
 Five-pointed star of light, 
 
 Despots amazing. 
 
 Earth saw me spurning thrall. 
 Nations approved me; 
 
 Chiefest and best of all, 
 Liberty loved me. 
 
THE LONE STAR OF TEXAS. 65 
 
 Fierce though my youth and wild, 
 
 Men could not mould me; 
 Yet was I Freedom's child, 
 
 Chains could not hold me. 
 
 Scoffing at human law, 
 Counsel misprizing, 
 
 Scarce holding God in awe. 
 Discord devising. 
 
 Earning an evil name. 
 Obloquy's byword; 
 
 Reckless and hard to tame. 
 Wanton and wayward. 
 
 Yet, when the trial's hour 
 Came for the nation. 
 
 Fitly I proved my power, 
 Made my oblation: 
 
66 THE LONE STAR OF TEXAS. 
 
 Gave of my noblest sons, 
 Greatly deserving; 
 
 Up to the belching guns 
 Marching unswerving: 
 
 Winning in lands afar, 
 Foemen defying, 
 
 Fame for the Lonely Star, 
 Honour undying. 
 
 Saddest of strife was then 
 Brother with brother; 
 
 Warfare of kindred men. 
 Sons of one mother. 
 
 Fain had I held aloof. 
 
 Issue divining; 
 Yet in the day of proof 
 
 Clear was my shining: 
 
THE LONE STAR OF TEXAS. 67 
 
 Over the plains of war, 
 
 Smoking and gory, 
 Glittered the Lonely Star, 
 
 Pointing to glory. 
 
 Rage now and passion past, 
 
 Bloodshed forgiven. 
 Calmly my light at last 
 
 Shines in high heaven. 
 
 Shines on the yellow sands. 
 Gleams on the river; 
 
 Shines on the fertile lands, 
 Gift of the Giver: 
 
 Shines for a promise true 
 Standing for ever; 
 
 Never from field of blue 
 Shall that Star sever. 
 
68 THE LONE STAR OF TEXAS. 
 
 Star of the State am I, 
 
 Liberty's token; 
 Gold, in an azure sky 
 
 Shining unbroken. 
 
AT THE MEET. 
 
 Good morning, the weather Is fine, 
 And pray don't forget you're to dine 
 At the Manor to-night, for my father is quite 
 Determined to drown you in wine. 
 
 You know, 
 Determined to drown you in wine. 
 
 Yes, the sorrel's the better to stay: 
 O, I wish I could hear " Gone away! ' 
 For this fidgetty filly is really so silly, 
 
 Keeps wanting to have her own way. 
 
 You know, 
 Keeps wanting to have her own way. 
 69 
 
70 AT THE MEET. 
 
 O, really, you shouldn't say that! 
 Do look at the man in the hat; 
 The queerest of creatures, it's just Hke a preacher's, 
 And a shockingly bad one at that. 
 
 You know, 
 A shockingly bad one at that. 
 
 Too bad of you — quite in the dark ; 
 And of course it was merely a lark; 
 But really, poor fellow, he looks with that yellow 
 Rose fit for a ride in the Park, 
 
 You know. 
 Quite fit for a ride in the Park. 
 
 Who's that? why, it's Reggie Malone! 
 How enormously slender he's grown! 
 I know he's a nailer, but hard on his tailor. 
 For he's close upon seventeen stone, 
 
 You know, 
 Very close upon seventeen stone. 
 
AT THE MEET. 71 
 
 O, look, there's the darling old squire, 
 I call him the pride of the shire; 
 Can't be true that he drinks — though I fancy he thinks 
 That foxes are only for hire, 
 
 You know, 
 That foxes are only for hire. 
 
 O, no, I don't mean he's insane; 
 But only so sweetly humane; 
 And he fancies — keep still! — that if we don't kill, 
 The fox can be hunted again, 
 
 You know. 
 The fox can be hunted again. 
 
 O, really, how funny you are! 
 And I used to be told by papa 
 You cared nothing for joking and always were smoking 
 A horrid Havana cigar, 
 
 You know. 
 Tremendous Havana cigar. 
 
72 AT THE MEET. 
 
 O, surely, don't let me detain 
 You one moment — it's only my rein; 
 The frolicsome creature, I never can teach her 
 To leave off that trick with her mane, 
 
 You know, 
 That troublesome trick with her mane. 
 
 O, dear, what a look in his eye; 
 How coldly he bade me good-by; 
 It's more than provoking, I only was joking. 
 And now I am ready to cry, 
 
 I know, 
 I feel I am going to cry. 
 
 How lucky I put on a veil; 
 I've a cold — did you think I looked pale? 
 So sweet of you, dearest — yes, surely the queerest 
 Old fellow, and slow as a snail. 
 
 You know, 
 Poor fellow, as slow as a snail. 
 
AT THE MEET. 73 
 
 O, dear, he's not going to come back! 
 There he is reining up by tlie hack 
 Of that horrible creature, who hasn't a feature 
 That's decent and sits Hke a sack, 
 
 You know, 
 She really does sit like a sack. 
 
 O, how I should like to go home! 
 Yes, my filly gets covered with foam 
 Very quickly from fretting; I fear she is getting 
 Quite tired of this sticky old loam, 
 
 You know. 
 So tired of this sticky old loam. 
 
 To think I should be such a fool ! 
 He was always so quiet and cool; 
 Stand steady, young filly! — I'm really as silly 
 As if I were just out of school, 
 
 You know. 
 As if I were just out of school. 
 
74 AT THE MEET. 
 
 It is true that I said he was slow; 
 But I never did mean it, and — O, 
 I'm really too stupid — I wish that Dan Cupid 
 Would lend me his arrow and bow, 
 
 You know. 
 Would lend me his arrow and bow. 
 
 I think he's got hold of her rein: 
 But I daren't look that way again; 
 Good morning — he's chaffing — no, thank you — and 
 laughing — 
 O, God, it will drive me insane! 
 
 I know, 
 I know it will drive me insane. 
 
 At last! There's a cry in the gorse! 
 That's Whimperer — steady, sweet horse; 
 Ah, me! they are finding! What, tears? O, they're 
 blinding 
 Me, yet I must gallop perforce, 
 
AT THE MEET. 75 
 
 You know, 
 O, yes, I must gallop perforce. 
 
 Go, follow the fools in their track; 
 Fool yourself, wretched creature, alack! 
 O, it's you? pray don't trouble — with a snaffle? yes, 
 double — 
 O, I thought you would never come back, 
 
 You know, 
 I thought you would never come back. 
 
 Yes. . . . Yes. ... O, please don't! Gone 
 
 away? 
 O, we'll all get some hunting to-day! 
 Look, look where he's stealing ofif yonder, — I'm 
 feeling 
 As happy as flowers in May, 
 
 You know. 
 As happy as flowers in May. 
 
76 AT THE MEET, 
 
 What, a lead? O, dear, no, did you think 
 I should funk any fences, or shrink 
 And show the white feather? We'll take them to- 
 gether, 
 Nor swerve at the cliff's very brink. 
 
 With you, 
 I'd leap at the grave's very brink. 
 
 O sweetheart, I'm glad that I came! 
 But you mustn't do that all the same: 
 Now, filly! we're over! My hero, my lover, 
 My darling, my heart is a flame, 
 
 Do you know? 
 My heart, ah, my heart is a flame! 
 
 Tally-ho! 
 
EPODE. 
 
 Come, for the trembling moon 
 
 Is waiting for words of love: 
 Come, for the night has strewn 
 
 Her ghttering robe above: 
 With a shuddering beat of his saffron wing 
 
 The twilight hour has passed: 
 The night-jar sobbed at his vanishing, 
 
 O, come, my love, at last. 
 
 The masterful day is slain. 
 
 Slain by Selene's dart; 
 The west ran red with the stain 
 
 Of blood from his crimson heart. 
 77 
 
78 EPODE. 
 
 He fell at the edge of the cypress wood, 
 
 Sacred to pure Bendis; 
 And over the place the virgin stood, 
 
 Delian Artemis. 
 
 Daintily, stepping soft, 
 
 Poising the crystal sphere. 
 Queen of the night came forth 
 
 To bathe in the heavenly mere. 
 She slipped from the edge of the white cloud-wreath, 
 
 Fleeced like the snow-bird's nest; 
 The stars grew pale and withheld their breath 
 
 At the sight of her virgin breast. 
 
 The white cloud-pack doth go 
 
 Before her face on high; 
 It gleams like a phantom floe, 
 
 A glacier of the sky. 
 The black night shows in chequered rifts 
 
 Between the icy mass: 
 The moon behind them slowly drifts 
 
 Across the dark crevasse. 
 
EFODE, 79 
 
 The virgin queen doth hold 
 
 Tribunal in the sky; 
 Stars have been overbold 
 
 And punishment is nigh. 
 Three mighty planets her defend, 
 
 Uranus, Venus, Mars; 
 Behind the cloud-barred grating penned. 
 
 Shiver the guilty stars. 
 
 Then come, while the black-winged night 
 
 Is sweeping across the sky; 
 Come, ere the archer smite. 
 
 Come, ere the rapture die. 
 The faint sweet tale of the amorous gale 
 
 Is passing from tree to tree; 
 'Tis love's own hour — to the lover's bower. 
 
 O, come, my love, with me! 
 
DEAR LITTLE FRIEND. 
 
 Dear little friend, across the parting years 
 I see thee standing, while imperious tears 
 Rose in thine eyes, and, passed beyond recall, 
 Welled with thy troubled bosom's rise and fall; 
 I see thee yet, the trembling hand that pressed 
 In quick confusion on the beating breast; 
 The quivering mouth that from an aching heart 
 Bore the despairing message — '' We must part! " 
 Dear little friend. 
 
 Dear little friend, I see the flushing cheek 
 That limned the tenderness thou wouldst not speak; 
 I see that noble struggle to conceal 
 The feeling which the heart would fain reveal; 
 80 
 
DEAR LITTLE FRIEND. 8l 
 
 I see the hands that, clasped in swift embrace, 
 Screened for a moment half thy glowing face; 
 I see the arms once emptied of their joys, 
 Flung forth abandoned to a reckless poise, 
 Dear little friend. 
 
 Dear little friend, I see the look that told 
 The secret which 'twere folly to unfold; 
 I read the thoughts that strove for utterance; 
 I see the tender, timid, pleading glance; 
 I see the lips that whispered, '' Go away; " 
 I see the eyes that mutely bade me stay; 
 I see the gaze, defenceless, yearning, fond; 
 I see, alas! the fearsome gulf beyond — 
 Dear little friend. 
 
 Dear little friend, I know the tender tone 
 
 That rises artlessly for one alone; 
 
 I know the passion that illumes the eyes. 
 
 The voice that says, " How foolish to be wise ; " 
 
 6 
 
82 DEAR LITTLE FRIEND, 
 
 I know the fearful struggle to be true; 
 I know the thoughts that tear the heart in two; 
 I know the yielding moment, past recall; 
 I know the hour — ah me, I know it all, 
 Dear little friend. 
 
 Dear little friend, so loving and so leal, 
 I bow before thy purity's appeal; 
 Devotion absolute, unquestioning, 
 Robs love of passion, passion of its sting. 
 I feel the love we trembled to confess 
 Was sent in mercy, not to harm, but bless; 
 That love, dear heart, if we can keep it pure, 
 Age cannot ravish, ever shall endure, 
 Dear little friend. 
 
 Dear little friend, that throb of self-disdain 
 That follows on assuaged passion's pain 
 We do not know; our friendship still shall be 
 Right in its blazon, quartered loyally. 
 
DEAR LITTLE FRIEND. 83 
 
 Never to us shall passionate consent 
 Teach in sad bitterness the word " Repent! " 
 Our lives are sundered, incomplete, but yet 
 Ours is a love unmingled with regret. 
 Dear little friend. 
 
TO THE PECOS VALLEY. 
 
 Truly the sun this place 
 
 Loves with a changeless love 
 
 Blessed by his unveiled face 
 Favoured the rest above. 
 
 Heat benignant and light 
 Bounteous pouring down; 
 
 Shafts from his quiver bright, 
 Gleams from his jewelled crown. 
 
 Witching with peerless grace, 
 Wooing with matchless art; 
 
 Prince of immortal race 
 Winning the valley's heart. 
 84 
 
TO THE PECOS VALLEY. 85 
 
 Humbly the vale of peace 
 
 Love of her lord receives: 
 Yields with a swift increase 
 
 Burden of autumn sheaves. 
 
 Jubilant, calls to man 
 
 Gifts of the God to share; 
 
 Pleasures Arcadian 
 
 Surely await him there. 
 
 See, where the creek and branch 
 Traverse the fertile land, 
 
 Hamlet, steading, and ranch 
 Witness his eager hand. 
 
 Forth at the master's call 
 Issues the life of earth — 
 
 Water, the lord of all, 
 
 Victor of drought and dearth. 
 
86 TO THE PECOS VALLEY. 
 
 Aqueduct, weir and sluice, 
 Conduit and dam appear, 
 
 Shaping to human use 
 Currents of water clear. 
 
 Checking with massy pier 
 Force that unbridled might 
 
 Labour of many a year 
 Waste in a single night. 
 
 Rivulet, runnel, and rill 
 Follow the gviiding hand, 
 
 Channel and stream fulfil 
 Patiently man's command. 
 
 Moving with tranquil tread, 
 Slipping with silent stream. 
 
 Life to the seeming dead 
 Bringing with silver gleam. 
 
TO THE PECOS VALLEY. 87 
 
 Lo, how the god's embrace 
 
 Quickens the prairie's breast! 
 SmiHng she hfts her face, 
 
 Servant of his behest. 
 
 Gold of her daughter fair, 
 Tassel and nodding plume, 
 
 Gives, and the wafting air 
 
 Fills with the flower's perfume. 
 
 Garden, orchard, and wood. 
 Tilth on the prairie spread; 
 
 Taming its wilder mood. 
 Guiding its wayward tread. 
 
 Soft from the bush is heard 
 
 Musical call of dove; 
 Carol of mocking-bird 
 
 Rings through the poplar grove. 
 
88 TO THE PECOS VALLEY. 
 
 Swift through the standing corn 
 Scurries the startled quail: 
 
 Hark, how the gray owl's horn 
 Biddeth the evening hail! 
 
 Slowly the sun descends, 
 Veiling his glorious beam; 
 
 Sweetly the moonlight lends 
 Glamour to bush and stream. 
 
 Sun and Water and Earth, 
 Earth and Water and Sun, 
 
 This have ye brought to birth. 
 Magical three in one ! 
 
SWEET EMMA MORELAND. 
 
 Sweet Emma Moreland, if indeed 
 A word of mine can reach thee still, 
 
 Dost thou recall the vow I made 
 The day we parted by the hill? 
 
 Dost thou remember how I swore, 
 The day we met on yonder way, 
 
 " Sweet Emma Moreland, love no more 
 Can touch the heart of Edward Gray "? 
 
 Ah, who can tell what things he saith 
 By bitter grief and woe unmanned? 
 
 Those solemn words in perfect faith 
 I spoke, but did not understand. 
 89 
 
go SWEET EMMA MORELAND. 
 
 For I was little but a lad, 
 
 A lad who thought the world his own, 
 I deemed the present all I had, 
 
 But now I prize the past alone. 
 
 My life was hardly then begun. 
 The future held me in its sway. 
 
 Since then, sweet Emma, more than one 
 Has touched the heart of Edward Gray. 
 
 Man's heart is like a flowing stream. 
 Beside whose banks the virgins play; 
 
 Beware, sweet maid, nor venture in, 
 'Twill surely bear thy peace away. 
 
 Man's heart is like a glowing fire. 
 Before whose blaze the virgins lie; 
 
 Beware, sweet maid, that cheering flame 
 Will slay thee if thou come too nigh. 
 
SWEET EMMA MORE LAND. 91 
 
 Man's heart is like the gleaming ice 
 Upon whose face the virgins skim ; 
 
 Beware, sweet maid, 'twill surely break! 
 God help thee if thou canst not swim! 
 
 Man's heart is like the golden pall 
 That cloaks — but, similes, avaunt! 
 
 Sweet Emma Moreland, after all, 
 
 Man's heart is what the virgins want. 
 
 Ah, gentle lady, though I wrong 
 
 Thy sweet complaisance by my line, 
 
 If meant in earnest is my song, 
 Or jest, thou only canst divine. 
 
THE EXILE'S MESSAGE. 
 
 June 22, 1897. 
 
 A voice across a waste of land, 
 
 A cry across the sea, 
 From one who still, dear country, stands 
 
 Most loyally by thee: 
 A heart that beats for England, 
 
 A soul that feels the sod 
 Of that dear island still hath been 
 
 Most cherished of God: 
 
 England, England, hear that voice, 
 England, attend that cry; 
 
 1 bid thee from my heart. Rejoice! 
 And, mightier yet than I, 
 
 My soul cries out for England, 
 
 Let nothing come between 
 Our love for thee, dear country, 
 
 Our love for thee, dear Queen. 
 92 
 
THE EXILE'S MESSAGE, 
 
 93 
 
 Then, England, hear my message, 
 
 Read thou my words aright — 
 My Maker, guide my stuttering Hps 
 
 And fill my voice with might — 
 Be still my cry to England, 
 
 As it hath ever been, 
 Ours is the land, by thee we standi 
 
 And England, England^ England^ love the Queen. 
 
 Ah me, thy people suffered long 
 
 Then, when the meanest thing 
 That England, wretched England, owned 
 
 Was named when named a king. 
 Then princes were but tyrants, 
 
 A king was but a knave. 
 From knavish royal tyranny 
 
 Sole refuge was the grave. 
 Was laid upon thy humbler sons, 
 
 O England, in that hour. 
 The infamy of poverty. 
 
 The infamy of power. 
 
94 THE EXILE'S MESSAGE. 
 
 Then blue blood stood for nobleness, 
 
 And lowly birth disgrace, 
 Then haughty baron bravely slashed 
 
 His servant in the face. 
 Now, England, hear my message: 
 
 By that time's memory, 
 By every drop of English blood 
 
 That fell through tyranny, 
 Be this my cry to England 
 
 As it hath ever been, 
 Ours is the land, by thee we stand, 
 
 And England^ England, England, love the Queen. 
 
 Look out upon the nations: 
 
 Say, Briton, on this earth 
 Is there a land like English land, 
 
 The country of thy birth? 
 Is there another country 
 
 Where every man is free, 
 A land that truly can be called 
 
 The land of liberty? 
 
THE EXILE'S MESSAGE. 
 
 Then, Briton, by thy birthright, 
 
 As thou dost fear thy God, 
 I charge thee stand by our dear land, 
 
 By our beloved sod. 
 I charge thee love thy country well, 
 
 And with a love as keen 
 As that thou bearest to thy land, 
 
 I charge thee love the Queen. 
 
 Her heart has beat for England; 
 
 In England's joy and woe 
 England's dear Queen hath ever been 
 
 Partaker hitherto. 
 Still thus, God knows, it shall be, 
 
 Still shall that Woman's heart 
 Until its pulses stir no more 
 
 Right nobly do its part. 
 God save the Queen of England! 
 
 God bless her too, we pray: 
 God save and bless abundantly 
 
 Our precious Queen this day: 
 
 95 
 
96 THE EXILE'S MESSAGE, 
 
 Victoria! Victoria! 
 
 O England, shout again! 
 Let every nation hear thy cry 
 
 And echo back again 
 That loyal shout of England, 
 
 And be it nobly seen 
 That English hearts are everywhere 
 
 And nothing stands between 
 Our love for dear old England, 
 
 Our love for England's Queen. 
 
 Three thousand miles of water, 
 
 Two thousand miles of land 
 Are stretched between me and the place 
 
 Where I would love to stand. 
 I cannot touch thee, England, 
 
 I cannot grasp the hand 
 Of that dear faithful English friend 
 
 I left on England's strand. 
 
THE EXILE'S MESSAGE. 97 
 
 But let me reach thee, England, 
 
 With all my spirit's voice; 
 O, let it be a voice of power 
 
 To bid thy sons rejoice. 
 From end to end let England 
 
 Reecho loud my cry, 
 And England's maids and England's men 
 
 One-souled, one-voiced, reply: 
 " We hear thy cry^ poor exile ^ 
 
 We hearken to thy voice ; 
 Across that waste of sea and land- 
 Rings clear thy zvord, Rejoice ! 
 We do rejoice for England ; 
 
 Our cry this day hath been 
 Ours is the land^ by thee we stand, 
 
 And England, England, England, loves the 
 Queen,'' 
 
VICTORIA. 
 
 June 22, 1897. 
 
 This is a day of praise, 
 
 Of prayer and humble thanksgiving to God, 
 Who throughout many days 
 
 Upholding her whose feet have ever trod 
 In ways of righteousness, 
 
 Doth still preserve the guardian of the sod 
 That Enghsh people bless. 
 
 This is a day of jubilation; sent 
 
 From each and every part 
 Of England's realm, her delegates present 
 
 The homage of the heart; 
 The mighty heart of that great English race. 
 
 Where freedom had its birth, 
 To her who rightly holds the highest place 
 
 Among the lords of earth. 
 98 
 
VICTORIA, 99 
 
 This is a day of pageantry. In state 
 
 From royal palace hall 
 Pass on through lines of citizens elate 
 
 To thy grey dome, Saint Paul, 
 The noblest retinue that earth can give, 
 
 The noblest queen of men, 
 Cheered by the nation's noblest cry: " Long live 
 
 Victoria!" Amen. 
 
 Praise, prayer, and loyal jubilation, all 
 
 This pomp of pageantry, 
 Striking the chord of memory, recall 
 
 Another day gone by. 
 These shouts of joy, these cries of fealty, 
 
 The nation's loyal tune 
 Bring back to our unswerving lealty 
 
 Another morn in June. 
 These scenes majestic to the memory tell 
 
 A yet more solemn scene, 
 When on her knees before her Maker fell 
 
 A slender, girlish queen, 
 
loo VICTORIA. 
 
 And vowed to rule in righteousness and love, 
 
 In justice and in truth, 
 Imploring humbly counsel from above, 
 
 God's guidance for her youth. 
 
 Queen of the English folk! Dost thou recall 
 
 Thy life's momentous hour, 
 When thou receivedst 'neath a golden pall 
 
 The emblems of thy power? 
 His uncrowned queen Saint Peter's abbot faced, 
 
 And on the burnished coil 
 Of thy fair head and slender fingers traced 
 
 With consecrated oil 
 The Holy Rood by Christians adored 
 
 From the ampulla's brim. 
 In sign thou wast thy people's sovran lord. 
 
 But servant still of Him 
 Whose Cross was laid upon thy head and hands 
 
 Before thou tookst the crown. 
 To join thee to Him with eternal bands 
 
 And mark thee for His own. 
 
VICTORIA. ic 
 
 In sign thou shouldst thy people rule in love, 
 
 In peace and amity, 
 Was given thee the sceptre with the Dove, 
 
 The Rod of Equity. 
 In sign thou shouldst the law of Christ fulfil, 
 
 Count earthly gain as loss. 
 Thy royal sceptre, Empress Queen, is still 
 
 The sceptre with the Cross. 
 
 Before the blessed Edward's circlet pressed 
 
 Upon thy youthful brow, 
 That diadem the Church's prelate blessed, 
 
 In sign that even thou 
 Wast bound as queen to keep in loyalty 
 
 The solemn word which saith 
 The Sovereigns of England's realm must be 
 
 Defenders of the Faith. 
 
 Recall, great Queen, the promise given there. 
 
 Thy Coronation Oath; 
 The words with which thou solemnly didst swear 
 
 To keep thy royal troth; 
 
I02 VICTORIA. 
 
 " I will protect the Church, the Laws maintain, 
 
 Resolved evermore 
 In Justice, Mercy, and in Love to reign: 
 
 The things I here before 
 Did promise, I will now perform and keep. 
 
 So help me God." That vow 
 Was heard by One whose eye doth never sleep. 
 
 And watcheth o'er thee now. 
 
 Victoria Regina, thou hast been 
 
 Just steward of thy folk; 
 Thy people during sixty years have seen 
 
 Thee fitly bear the yoke 
 Thou didst that day consent to undertake 
 
 As servant of thy Lord, 
 When thou didst promise never to forsake 
 
 Thy people or thy word. 
 
 Queen of the English heart! Thy glorious reign 
 
 Is drawing near its close; 
 Thy life of mingled happiness and pain, 
 
 Of chequered joys and woes. 
 
VICTORIA. 103 
 
 Mankind's allotted years has more than spanned, 
 
 And soon must thou, alone, 
 Unaided, unattended, humbly stand 
 
 Before the great white throne. 
 At that dread audit of thy life and reign. 
 
 Thy stewardship's accompt 
 Is passed before the One who maketh plain 
 
 All things, and answer prompt 
 Awards, to man's eternal loss or gain. 
 
 This is no day, no hour 
 For fulsome adulation; we appeal 
 
 To that Almighty Power, 
 The Judge before whom all mankind reveal 
 
 The secrets of the heart; 
 From Whom is nothing hid, Who surely knows 
 
 Our being's every part. 
 Naught in His sight are all our earthly shows. 
 
 Our times are in His hand. 
 Him we entreat to make His judgment clear. 
 
 When thou, great queen, shalt stand 
 Before that seat, thy people shall be near. 
 
I04 VICTORIA. 
 
 Petitioning for thee; 
 Awaiting calmly, free from doubt or fear. 
 
 The answer yet to be. 
 As surely thou hast kept thy maiden vow, 
 
 Hast kept thy royal word, 
 So surely shalt thou hear with tranquil brow 
 
 The judgment of the Lord: 
 " Well done, thou faithful servant, enter thou 
 
 Into thy life's reward." 
 
HEART OF THE SEA. 
 
 On that torn peak where tempests gather 
 And whip to gale the western breeze, 
 
 Where winds in wildness lash to lather 
 And foam the scum of the wintry seas : 
 
 By that sheer cliff where ever madder 
 And madder dance the eddies urge, 
 
 While the seaweed writhes like a burnished adder 
 Caught in the grip of the ravening surge. 
 
 I clung handfast to a crevice streaming 
 With lifted spray from the swirling flood, 
 
 While over the cleft the sea-gulls screaming 
 Swept back and forth on their quest of food. 
 105 
 
io6 HEART OF THE SEA. 
 
 Appalled I gazed, and my spirit's gladness 
 Was utterly wasted and turned to naught ; 
 
 For the friend I had loved lay in tossing madness, 
 Racked to and fro like a thing distraught. 
 
 And I cried aloud : '' Can this wild commotion 
 Of battering billows and wrangling waves 
 
 Come from the heart of the gentle ocean 
 
 That kisses the mouths of the sea-nymphs' caves? 
 
 Is this the sea that the lightest feather 
 
 Undrenched could bear on its buoyant brine, 
 
 While the glittering sunbeam's golden tether 
 Linked wave and sky in a yoke divine? 
 
 Is this the sea of my life's reliance, 
 
 The sea that cradled my infant sleep. 
 This wild grey waste that in mad defiance 
 
 Is hoarsely caUing from deep to deep? 
 
HEART OF THE SEA. 107 
 
 Sea, I have slept while thy tuneful treble, 
 Of lullabies sweetest, hath charmed my ear. 
 
 And the song of the wave to the rolling pebble 
 Was ever the song that I loved to hear. 
 
 Thou wast to me like a boy's defender, 
 A wooer of maids and a man's delight. 
 
 None spoke with a voice so sweet, so tender. 
 None looked on me with a smile so bright. 
 
 But now thou art changed, and my faith is shaken, 
 Thou hast robbed me, Sea, of my spirit's rest, 
 
 I trusted in thee, and thou hast taken 
 From me the treasure I loved the best. 
 
 Thou hast played me false, and my heart is broken; 
 
 Thou hast played me false, and thou dost not care; 
 Ah, how can ever a word be spoken 
 
 To match the grief thou hast made me bear? 
 
io8 HEART OF THE SEA. 
 
 I know thee now for a cruel preacher 
 Of creed inhuman with careless scoff; 
 
 More vile art thou than the meanest creature 
 That crawls in the slime of thy hollow trough. 
 
 I hate thee, Sea, with an unforgiving, 
 Defiant hate; thou, of hell's decree 
 
 Consenting organ, hast made my living 
 
 More chill than death; lo, I curse thee, Sea! " 
 
 With frantic gesture defiance hurling, 
 
 In vain rebellion at mastery, 
 I flung my curse at the billow's curling 
 
 Crest as it carelessly passed me by. 
 
 Ah, fool, to think that the god immortal 
 Who orders ocean and sways the sea. 
 
 Can reck one whit that a gloomy portal 
 Has closed betwixt thy love and thee. 
 
HEART OF THE SEA. 109 
 
 Ah, fool, to think that the bitter trouble 
 That darkens daylight and maddens dreams, 
 
 Weighs more with him than the lightest bubble 
 That on his breast for an instant gleams 
 
 And then is gone ; can the piteous wailing 
 Of childless parent and orphan child 
 
 Seem aught to a god but the senseless raiHng 
 Of dolts that will not be reconciled? 
 
 Away, fond wretch, for thy blatant shouting 
 Is food for jest to the deathless one 
 
 Who sits enthroned on the billows, flouting 
 Thy grief and thee, — poor fool, begone! 
 
 I turned away from the wild confusion 
 
 Of upthrown billows and downdrawn skies, 
 
 And bitterly mocked at the fond delusion 
 That a god with a mortal could sympathize. 
 
no HEART OF THE SEA. 
 
 I turned — that sound ! Was I mad, or waking 
 
 To clearer vision and saner life? 
 I seemed to hear from the waters breaking 
 
 A voice that called me to peace from strife. 
 
 Amid the roar of the tempest shrieking, 
 
 The rolhng thunder and levin flame, 
 A quiet voice to me was speaking 
 
 Softly, and calling upon my name. 
 
 In the seething heart of the swirling waters, 
 
 Where the galling spray makes the eyesight dim, 
 
 Where the driving spume never stops or falters 
 In whirling race round the eddy's rim, 
 
 A smooth space lay like a face that glistened 
 With tears — strange sight in that medley wild! 
 
 The weary years, as I stooped and listened, 
 Slipped back, and I felt like a little child. 
 
HEART OF THE SEA. ill 
 
 That sound! 'Twas naught but the faintest whisper, 
 More heard than spoken, that stirred my soul; 
 
 Yet all-pervading, and clearer, crisper 
 Than howling tempest or thunder's roll. 
 
 That sound! It came from no hoary Triton 
 Or shell-throned goddess of sea-foam birth; 
 
 The voice was the voice of the lord Poseidon, 
 The god that girdles and shakes the earth. 
 
 I bowed, I fell, and the insurrection 
 
 My soul had compassed was swept away; 
 
 At the voice of the god my heart's defection 
 Passed as the mist from the sun-god's ray. 
 
 " Child," I heard, and the water's riot 
 
 Was still, and soundless the shattered waves; 
 
 Crept over my soul an awesome quiet 
 
 Like the hush that lies on the place of graves. 
 
112 HEART OF THE SEA, 
 
 The spray hung poised on the breaking billow, 
 And fixed in falling the comber heard 
 
 That voice of power, like a drawn-lace pillow 
 The foam lay still at Poseidon's word. 
 
 " Child of man " — and I heard the calling 
 Of Nymph and Triton in grot and cave; 
 
 The earth's dim scales from my eyes were falling 
 And I saw with the vision that poets crave. 
 
 " Child beloved " — and my grief was over; 
 
 My heart leapt up and cried: " Rejoice! " 
 Thrilled was my soul as the passionate lover 
 
 Thrills to the sound of his mistress' voice. 
 
 " Son of my heart, I have loved thee ever; 
 
 Dear to me was thy trustful youth; 
 Dost think that a passionate word can sever 
 
 A bond that is fixed in eternal truth? 
 
HEART OF THE SEA. 113 
 
 Nay, not unheard was thy wild complaining, 
 
 Yet scarce availeth a mortal's cry 
 To alter the currents of Fate's ordaining 
 
 Or fashion the course of the gods on high. 
 
 Thine is the past, for the past is over; 
 
 What in its bosom the future holds 
 The great gods know but do not discover 
 
 Till time in season the end unfolds. 
 
 Mistake not me for a cruel scoffer, 
 Or tyrant smiting with careless face; 
 
 The gods above do not deign to offer 
 Their hearts to the gaze of a ribald race 
 
 Of mortals vaunting themselves and deeming 
 That naught from their vision is hid — O, blind 
 
 And fools, who scan but the outward seeming 
 Nor dream of the heavenly shape behind. 
 
114 HEART OF THE SEA. 
 
 Then think not thou that this wild commotion 
 
 Of waters under and winds above 
 Conies from the heart of the gentle ocean, 
 
 The god that cherisheth mortals' love. 
 
 Above, the winds and waves are jarring 
 In ceaseless turmoil and cureless strife; 
 
 Below, no earth-born sound is marring 
 The peaceful rest of eternal life. 
 
 I have stretched my seas for a shrouding ceiling 
 
 Above my palace; a glassy floor 
 It seems to mortals, to them revealing 
 
 Somewhat, but from them concealing more. 
 
 While over that floor the tempest rages. 
 And wind with wind in fury vies. 
 
 Unstirred below through the countless ages 
 The great grey soul of ocean lies. 
 
HEART OF THE SEA. 115 
 
 There quiet reigns — for the struggle frantic 
 Of blast and billow, of bond and free, 
 
 Moves not at all that breast gigantic 
 Nor stirs the soul of the hoary sea. 
 
 There Time no season knows, no number. 
 
 For twilight soft and immortal balm 
 Soothe the soul to a dreamless slumber, 
 
 Steeped evermore in a quenchless calm. 
 
 There the heart of the Sea is beating 
 
 Soft and low, like a cradling song, 
 There I await my beloved with greeting 
 
 Gentle and bear in my arms along 
 
 Safe to the peace that knows no breaking. 
 Safe to the rest from toil and care, 
 
 Weary souls to the sleep unwaking. 
 Sleep that mortals can never share. 
 
Ii6 HEART OF THE SEA. 
 
 Those whom I love to my heart I gather, 
 
 Gift of a god is unending rest; 
 Child, thou art mine — to thy heart's true father 
 
 Come, and be clasped to his loving breast." 
 
 The low voice ceased, but the silence lasted; 
 
 That smooth still space like a face serene 
 Smiled in a wondrous calm contrasted 
 
 With surge and breaker that raged between. 
 
 Smiled and waved — and my heart was bounding 
 With love that would not be kept apart; 
 
 Down, far down beyond human sounding 
 I dropped to sleep on the sea-god's heart. 
 
I CALLED TO LOVE. 
 
 I called to Love, and as I called he came, 
 Black-eyed and bold and naked; and in shame 
 I hid my face and trembled, but the boy 
 Leapt at my breast and whispered, '* Joy of joy 
 I bring thee, sweet one, and divine delight; 
 Undo thy bosom's latchet, neophyte, 
 i\.nd let me in." Therewith about my knees 
 He clung and clamoured softly, as the breeze 
 That murmurs to the trailing tamarinds. 
 His beating wings made soft and fitful winds 
 That carried odours to me, and I felt 
 My senses waver and about my belt 
 His fingers busy, yet, it seemed, in play; 
 A laugh of conquest echoed. No dismay 
 Arose to mar my longing. I put out 
 A trembling hand towards him, not in doubt, 
 117 
 
8 / CALLED TO LOVE. 
 
 But seeking his; my sensing fingers met — 
 
 For still my eyes were closed — a bosom wet 
 
 As my own quivering palm, and felt the beat 
 
 Of lifeblood at his heart. " O Paraclete! " 
 
 I cried and turned to flee. '' Who flees is lost! " 
 
 A voice replied. The saucy urchin tossed 
 
 My languid arms away and bared my heart. 
 
 " As thou hast called me, bid me now depart! " 
 
 He cried, and laughed again. The silence held 
 
 Until he broke it. '' Is there one can weld 
 
 A mail with power to turn my point divine? 
 
 The bittersweet of life is this, is thine! " 
 
 Once more he laughed, and touched the echoing 
 
 string; 
 I heard the arrows in his quiver ring 
 And knew him aiming — yet my eyes were bound 
 And fast my lips. Then with a rustling sound 
 Of folding pinions, came a voice that said : 
 "Sister, beware; is thy discernment dead? 
 Look, look, or thou art lost! " A sudden fear 
 Of what I knew not seized me, and a tear 
 
/ CALLED TO LOVE. iig 
 
 Forced its way upward from the virgin well 
 Of maidenhood unsullied: as it fell 
 The philtre lost its virtue and my soul 
 Sprang to my eyes and broke their lids' control, 
 And I beheld and cried: " I am beguiled! 
 Thou art not Love, thou art but Fancy's child! " 
 Thereat the phantom vanished, and I went 
 Along the path in thankless discontent. 
 
 I called to Love, and as I called he came. 
 But never paused or greeted; on his game 
 Was all his mind, yet this same heedlessness 
 So well became his jocund fearlessness 
 I longed the more; a comely shape that glowed 
 With youthful vigour; smiling he bestrode 
 A fallen woodland terror, from its side 
 Plucking the ashen spear that entry wide 
 Had made therein ; the blood that spirted high 
 Bedaubed his knee and stained his ivory thigh. 
 But all unnoted, as he turned his head 
 And hearkened to the forest-voices. Dread 
 
!0 / CALLED TO LOVE. 
 
 Of that wild place was on me and I cried: 
 
 " Sweet youth and master, do not thou deride 
 
 My cowardice, or mock thy servant's moan: 
 
 Great fear have I of journeying alone." 
 
 At that he turned — how fair his face to see ! 
 
 It filled my heart with rapture — " What to me," 
 
 He answered, *' is thy plight? Go seek the 
 
 path ; 
 Tempt me no longer, lest a dryad's wrath 
 Undo us both. . . . 
 
 I hitherto have spilt 
 No blood but beasts'; if henceforth there be guilt, 
 'Tis not on me. I yet am innocent 
 Of other .... 
 
 Surely I am cast, and shent 
 In either hap. So, follow where I lead." 
 With that he turned and sped across the mead 
 And leapt within the forest. Where he led 
 I followed, though the sere acacias shed 
 Their spikes to gash my feet; at my spent blood 
 I sickened as I ran; throughout the wood 
 
/ CALLED TO LOVE. I2i 
 
 I stumbled weeping, yet I lost him not, 
 
 For still the white limbs gleamed ; my heart was 
 
 hot, 
 And tumult in my bosom; where the glade 
 Divides the forest, there he turned and stayed. 
 He seemed the lovelier for the threatening spear 
 That carried death. I dared to venture near 
 Forspent and bleeding, while the longing grew 
 To clasp him closely once and then imbue 
 The spear-blade with my heart's blood. At his scorn 
 I clean forgot the torture of the thorn, 
 And passed the spear and sought to clasp his hand. 
 Crying, " O love, I hardly understand 
 Thy cruelty, yet as thou wilt, so do, 
 For I am thine." At that he roughly threw 
 My hand away, replying with a sneer, 
 " What then am I? " and poised anew the spear. 
 " My love, dear heart, and thou art truly mine." 
 " Thy love? " he cried: "Go! I am none of thine; 
 A goddess woos me." At that word I knew 
 The one he was. " Ah, hunter, is it true? 
 
2 / CALLED TO LOVE. 
 
 I know thee now; betrayed am I for sure! 
 Thou art not Love, but Venus' paramour." 
 Thereon he would have slain me, but I slipped 
 Beside him in a new-found strength, and gripped 
 The ashen spear-shaft; in my hand it snapped 
 And left him weaponless. He stood entrapped 
 And gnashed at me; I saw his beauty pass 
 Swift as the image from the shattered glass; 
 His ivory skin was leprous. With a cry 
 I cast the spear-head at the cankered thigh 
 And fled the place, nor slackened till the night 
 Received and hid me from my fellows' sight. 
 
 I called to Love, and as I called he came. 
 New, yet familiar; was he not the same 
 That I had dreamt of? In his daring eyes 
 I saw my longings mirrored; former ties 
 Were broken at his touch; he seemed to tread 
 On some supernal ether, and to shed 
 Celestial fragrance on me; celandine 
 Was not more golden than his curls divine. 
 
/ CALLED TO LOVE. 123 
 
 His smile elysian— how it shook my soul! 
 
 " Ah, wrong me not! " I cried, " thou art the goal 
 
 Of my desire— O, love empyrean, hail! 
 
 Behold thy handmaid! " Passion left me pale 
 
 And sightless, but I feU him drawing near; 
 
 The balmy air grew warmer. '' Be of cheer," 
 
 He whispered, " for I bring thee thy desire." 
 
 So, lightly touched my heart. Devouring fire 
 
 Flamed up within my breast— his fingers burned. 
 
 I shrieked and started back, yet inly yearned 
 
 To clasp those scorching fingers, while he raised 
 
 My trembling body upward, till I gazed 
 
 Upon his glowing eyes. A palsy shook 
 
 My limbs, and at the summons of his look 
 
 I rendered up myself. " O, take me, love, 
 
 Ideal, yet incarnate; quickly prove 
 
 Thy deity; conception most divine. 
 
 Am I not thine?" He answered: "Thou art 
 
 mine." 
 At that I swooned within his arms and seemed 
 To let the years pass heedless, while I dreamed 
 
124 / CALLED TO LOVE. 
 
 Seraphic visions; trances of delight 
 
 Upheld me through an oriental night 
 
 Of mirth and song and music, till I heard 
 
 A note, discordant, sharp, that swiftly stirred 
 
 My slumbered senses, and the glamour fled. 
 
 My eyes were opened and delight was dead. 
 
 The dream once ended, misery and ruth 
 
 Became my portion when I knew the truth. 
 
 I looked upon my seraph; he was foul; 
 
 The contact mired me. With a fiendish scowl, 
 
 Reading my thought, he cried: ''Art thou not 
 
 mine? 
 Lo, I have sealed thee to myself; my sign 
 Is on thy face, my votary thou art; 
 I know the inmost secrets of thy heart." 
 So saying, would have seized me, but I screamed 
 And flung him off. '' Debaucher! I had deemed 
 Thee different — I know thee truly now; 
 Lost though I am, I can recall my vow. 
 To such as thee my soul I never gave; 
 Thou art not Love, thou art but Passion's slave! " 
 
/ CALLED TO LOVE, 12$ 
 
 At that the demon struck me, and I fell 
 Backward and hung upon the verge of hell. 
 
 I called to Love, and as I called he came. 
 
 The angel of the furnace; sacred flame 
 
 Lay lambent on his temples; from afar 
 
 I saw him coming like a fiery star 
 
 That bore destruction onward; in his hand 
 
 Blazed the red outline of a glowing brand. 
 
 The fear of death was on me; in the sedge 
 
 That overspreads the ooze at Lethe's edge 
 
 I flung myself face downward, where the grass 
 
 Grows rankest, praying that the god would pass 
 
 And leave me scatheless — was I fit to die? 
 
 " Semele, aid me! Let him not come nigh! " 
 
 O, vain appeal! I felt him drawing near; 
 
 The slim green rushes shrivelled into sere 
 
 And fell in glowing embers. Terror set 
 
 Its bounds to my endurance. " Spare me yet, 
 
 O, master of my heart! " I cried. "Arise," 
 
 He answered, " in my hand thy living lies." 
 
:26 / CALLED TO LOVE. 
 
 Constraint was on me and I raised my head. 
 His look was scorching, yet the terror fled. 
 I rose and faced him. Passion and Desire 
 Withered and perished in that glowing fire; 
 The flesh revolted yet. My heart was chill 
 With sudden panic. " Master, wilt thou kill 
 Me wholly? " '' Self I slay; yet an thou like 
 Thou mayst escape; thou needst not bid me strike. 
 Thy choice is free; the angel or the brute; 
 Make thy election." Terror kept me mute. 
 He raised his hand; I saw the fiery sword 
 And knew my soul depending on a word. 
 " And must I look my last upon the sun? 
 Is there no way but this? " He answered: " None." 
 " Alas! I fear that thou wilt kill me quite! " 
 "Say, shall I smite?" he cried. I answered: 
 
 "Smite!" 
 With that the sword went through me, and I passed 
 In one swift agony to Love at last. 
 
THREE WISHES. 
 
 '' Grant me a boon, but one," 
 Cried to his Maker man ; 
 
 " Lo, where the graceless Sun 
 
 Mocks me since Time began. 
 
 " Mocks me from dawn to eve, 
 Mocks me anew at morn; 
 Challenging me to drive 
 
 Courses from bourne to bourne. 
 
 " Fain would I follow and chase, 
 But how can I tether a star? 
 And he jeers me with careless face- 
 Succour me, Avatar! 
 
 127 
 
128 THREE WISHES. 
 
 " Give me a courser fleet 
 
 As the whirlwind's sightless horse; 
 Give me the grim Afreet 
 That hides in the watercourse. 
 
 Give me the spirit pale, 
 
 The dim white nymph that is kissed 
 By the fire-god in glowing mail; 
 
 Give me the heart of the mist. 
 
 " Give me the Soul of the Rain, 
 Slave let it be of my skill; 
 So shall I never again 
 
 Fret, having had my will." 
 
 " Son, thou art asking much," 
 Slowly the god replied: 
 
 " Fearest thou not to touch 
 Things that are deified? 
 
THREE WISHES. 129 
 
 " Fitly a thing divine 
 Spirit of water is; 
 See that in hands of thine 
 Perish not sanctities. 
 
 " Yet, that thou mayst not tire, 
 Deeming thy striving vain, 
 Take thou thy heart's desire. 
 Take thou the Soul of the Rain." 
 
 Man, from the watercloud 
 Taking the soul, began 
 
 Curbing that spirit proud, 
 Forcing to bless and ban. 
 
 Taming that grim Afreet, 
 Shackling that giant wild, 
 
 Branding with ruthless heat 
 Waterfall's phantom child. 
 
 9 
 
I30 THREE WISHES. 
 
 Binding with iron bands, 
 Searing with furnace gleam, 
 
 Till with obedient hands 
 
 Works at his will the Steam. 
 
 Turbulent heart subdued, 
 Bondman became of man; 
 
 Fashioning forces crude, 
 Venturing earth to span. 
 
 Daedal, with patient art 
 
 Piercing the mountain's side; 
 
 Over the gorge's heart 
 
 Stepping with giant stride. 
 
 Ever with tireless feet 
 Ceaselessly passing forth; 
 
 Flying from East to greet 
 West, and the South from North. 
 
THREE WISHES. 131 
 
 Distancing wind and tide, 
 Linking the land and sea; 
 
 Swelling his ruler's pride, 
 Winning him royal fee. 
 
 Loudly the master laughed: 
 " Now is the race begun; 
 
 Mocker, my handicraft 
 
 Matches thy coursers, sun!" 
 
 Shining Apollo smiled 
 
 Brightly with cloudless brow; 
 " Phaethon, self-beguiled. 
 
 Perished, and such art thou. 
 
 Mortal of restless birth, 
 
 Cursed with the Titan's soul, 
 Can not to thee the earth 
 
 Proffer sufficing goal? 
 
132 THREE WISHES. 
 
 " Leave to the gods the sky; 
 Not to Olympus come 
 Those who its lords defy; 
 Scoffers had best be dumb." 
 
 Swiftly the god elate, 
 
 Wrapt in his robe of light, 
 
 Sped to the golden gate, 
 Stabled his coursers bright; 
 
 Feasted the starshine through. 
 Feasted and slept again; 
 
 Then on the zenith blue 
 Guided his coursers twain. 
 
 Laughing and looking back, 
 Marking his rival bold 
 
 Urging on glittering track 
 Natural force controlled. 
 
THREE WISHES. 133 
 
 Vainly the panting steam 
 
 Strives with the god to vie; 
 Lo, where the vanishing gleam 
 
 Fades in the western sky! 
 
 " Grant me a boon, but one," 
 
 Cried to his Maker man; 
 " Lo, where the graceless Sun 
 
 Mocks me since Time began. 
 
 " Mocks me with careless face. 
 Jeers from his golden car; 
 Sore is thy son's disgrace, 
 Succour me. Avatar! 
 
 '* Give me the spirit bright 
 
 That leaps from the thunder's breast. 
 Give me the blinding light 
 
 That plays on the mountain's crest. 
 
134 
 
 THREE WISHES. 
 
 Give me the lightning's flash, 
 Soul of the deadly fire 
 
 Born of the welkin's crash; 
 Grant me my heart's desire. 
 
 Give me the amber's core, 
 Slave let it be of my skill; 
 
 So shall I nevermore 
 
 Fret, having had my will." 
 
 Answered the Titan : " Child, 
 Bought at a woful price. 
 
 Bitter art thou and wild. 
 Fruit of my sacrifice. 
 
 " Image of crumbling clay, 
 
 Mould that I filled with breath; 
 Still art thou led astray, 
 Turning from life to death. 
 
THREE WISHES. 135 
 
 Yet, since I needs must be 
 
 Granter of thy desire, 
 Take from the lightning free. 
 
 Mortal, its Soul of Fire." 
 
 Man, from the levin flame 
 Taking the soul, began 
 
 Spirit of light to tame. 
 Forcing to bless and ban. 
 
 Leading in endless line. 
 Winding in potent coil, 
 
 Soul of the spark divine 
 Binding to earthly toil. 
 
 Swift, in a moment's space 
 Under the startled sea 
 
 Rushing with peerless pace, 
 Rival of Mercury. 
 
136 THREE WISHES. 
 
 Stars, by the mind of man 
 
 Fashioned and brought to light, 
 
 Toiled, to a working plan 
 Tethered in ordered might. 
 
 Them their creator elate, 
 Mocking the son of Zeus, 
 
 Driveth in yoke sedate, 
 Fitteth to daily use. 
 
 Crying with vaunting speech 
 
 '' Listen, my Avatar; 
 Now is the time to teach 
 
 Gods what the mortals are. 
 
 " Phoebus Apollo, heed ! 
 Fallen art thou and cast 
 Earthward, a saner creed 
 Vanquisheth thee at last. 
 
THREE WISHES. -f^-hl 
 
 " Lo, thou art weighed and found 
 Wanting in every part; 
 Fabric of myth unsound, 
 Manifest He thou art. 
 
 " Light is my slave, and speed 
 Measureless owns my might; 
 Phoebus, of thee no need 
 Have I nor of thy light. 
 
 " Stars have I made to work. 
 Sun, shall I bow to thee? 
 Lord of the light and mirk 
 Never henceforth for me ! " 
 
 Graceful Apollo swung 
 Lightly his golden rein; 
 
 Glances the sun-god flung 
 Earthward of calm disdain. 
 
138 THREE WISHES. 
 
 " Zeus, thy abiding curse 
 Ever on earth prevails; 
 After each age a worse 
 Follows and foully rails. 
 
 " Scorning the gods above, 
 
 Deeming themselves supreme, 
 Slighting my works of love. 
 Mocking my kindly beam. 
 
 ^' Mythical, men me call; 
 
 Nay, what is myth but the rune 
 Of the life that encircleth all. 
 Echo of nature's tune? 
 
 " Lo, should I hide my face 
 
 From them and veil my light. 
 Soon were this boastful race 
 Lost in eternal night. 
 
THREE WISHES. 139 
 
 " Lo, should I turn my spear 
 On them, and bend my bow, 
 Titan, thy children dear 
 Perish in mortal throe." 
 
 Grant me a boon, but one," 
 Cried to his Maker man; 
 
 Lo where the envious Sun 
 Mocks me since Time began. 
 
 " Fills me with deadly fear, 
 
 Threatens my works to mar, 
 Tossing his glittering spear; 
 Succour me. Avatar! 
 
 Give me the pinion light, 
 Wing of the bird of Jove: 
 
 Give me the eagle's flight; 
 So shall I master prove. 
 
I40 THREE WISHES. 
 
 *' Give me the power to soar, 
 Slave let it be of my skill; 
 So shall I nevermore 
 
 Fret, having had my will." 
 
 Weary Prometheus said: 
 
 '' Child, thou canst surely see 
 
 How I am punished 
 Daily for sake of thee. 
 
 *' Ever since fire I stole 
 
 Earthward to warm thy heart, 
 Sorrow hath been my dole. 
 Bondage hath been my part. 
 
 " Fast to the burning rock 
 
 Bound with a chain, my crime 
 Was that I dared to mock 
 Order of Jove sublime. 
 
THREE WISHES. 141 
 
 " Eagle through pathless air 
 Hither at Zeus' behest 
 Cometh to rend and tear 
 Daily my bleeding breast. 
 
 " Mortal, if mine the power 
 Over the eagle's flight, 
 Would I a single hour 
 
 Longer endure my plight? 
 
 " Never can bird of Jove 
 Servitor be of thine; 
 Never can mortal prove 
 Master of flight divine. 
 
 Cease with the gods to vie, 
 Child that I brought to birth 
 
 They are the lords of sky, 
 Thine are the things of earth. 
 
142 THREE WISHES. 
 
 " Cease to provoke thy fate, 
 
 Cross not the sun-god's path; 
 Marsyas learnt too late 
 Peerless Apollo's wrath." 
 
 " Knave, with deceitful heart ! " 
 Cried to his Maker man; 
 
 " Using thy guileful art 
 Only to balk my plan. 
 
 " Fool that I was to trust 
 Thee or revere thy skill; 
 Better return to dust, 
 Titan, than yield my will. 
 
 Lord of the earth am I, 
 Ocean I hold in fee; 
 
 Why should I fear the sky 
 More than the purple sea? 
 
THREE WISHES. I43 
 
 " Mine is the power to make, 
 Mine is the povv^er to mar; 
 All that I need I take, 
 Tremble, my Avatar! 
 
 " Henceforth of thee no care 
 Have I nor of thy might; 
 Soon through the yielding air 
 Swift shall I wing my flight ! 
 
 Luckless Prometheus heard. 
 Listened with boding awe; 
 
 Felt at his breast the bird 
 Tearing with bill and claw. 
 
 Sadly the Titan said: 
 
 "Trouble is still my part; 
 Even the race I made 
 
 Tears at its maker's heart. 
 
144 THREE WISHES. 
 
 " Me the Compeller's rebuke, 
 Punishment merciless, 
 Harasseth less than thy look, 
 Pigmy, of narrowness. 
 
 " Selfish is all thy mind; 
 Thou for thyself alone 
 Seest, to others blind, 
 Hard is thy heart as stone. 
 
 " Zeus, for a bitter jest. 
 
 Cankered my gifts to man ; 
 Banned what I fain had blessed, 
 Blessed what I meant to ban. 
 
 " Truly Pandora still 
 
 Regnant is here below, 
 Ordering human skill 
 Unto man's overthrow." 
 
THREE WISHES, 145 
 
 Man, to the eagle's flight 
 
 Bending his skill, began 
 Fashioning pinions light. 
 
 Framing the steering fan. 
 
 Swift as the bird of Jove 
 
 Thinking to cleave the air, 
 Cunning and sleight to prove, 
 
 Craftsman beyond compare. 
 
 Sprang to the mountain's brow. 
 
 Cried to the shining sun: 
 Phoebus, behold me now! 
 
 Mocker, the race is won! 
 
 Master of flight am I, 
 King over land and sea; 
 
 Mythical lord of sky. 
 
 Needs must thou yield to me! 
 
146 THREE WISHES. 
 
 Spake, and on outspread wing, 
 Eager his power to show. 
 
 Leapt with a mighty spring — 
 Fell on the plain below. 
 
 Lordly Apollo leant 
 
 Down from his golden car; 
 Rang through the firmament 
 
 Laughter of moon and star. 
 
 " Folly is never old, 
 
 Wisdom is always stale; 
 Artifex overbold, 
 Icarus redux, hail! " 
 
 Vainly the human race 
 Strives with the deities; 
 
 Dissociating space 
 
 Smiles at their vanities. 
 
RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. 
 
 Rio Pecos, Pecos River, 
 Where the empty Indian quiver. 
 On thy rocks with blood bespattered 
 Cast and into fragments shattered 
 
 By the frantic blow, 
 Told the stern, avenging foeman 
 That the grim Apache bowman 
 Dared his fate to know. 
 Hither, thither, surged the fighting 
 Press, the god of war delighting. 
 
 While the river's flow. 
 Tireless, ceaseless in persistence. 
 Making light of man's resistance, 
 
 Neither swift nor slow. 
 Washed the bloody stains of battle 
 From the rocks below; 
 147 
 
148 RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. 
 
 Heard, as hearing childish prattle, 
 Crash of axe and musket rattle, 
 
 Cry of friend and foe; 
 Heard, and hearing in its steady 
 Rhythmic course to pool and eddy, 
 
 As it moved along, 
 Told the grim and ghastly story, 
 And the tale of conflict gory 
 
 Wove into a song; 
 Rising, falling, as the water 
 Rose and fell, a song of slaughter, 
 Murdered wife, deflowered daughter, 
 
 Treachery and wrong; 
 Swift pursuit and stern requital. 
 Hour of fate and issue vital. 
 
 Thrusting, grappling throng; 
 Vengeance keen and struggle bloody, 
 Death supreme and waters ruddy 
 
 As the prairie rose; 
 Ranger hat and Indian feather 
 Floating down the stream together, 
 
RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. 149 
 
 Till with daylight's close 
 Came the night on raven pinion, 
 To exert her calm dominion, 
 
 And the clang of blows, 
 Shout of triumph, song of gladness. 
 Frenzied yell and shriek of madness. 
 Wail of grief and cry of sadness 
 
 Hushed into repose. 
 
 Rio Pecos, Pecos River, 
 Breezes waver, rushes shiver, 
 While above the maddened medley 
 Of the final conflict deadly 
 Floats the ragged-pinioned buzzard, 
 Scanning calmly human hazard 
 
 On the sands below; 
 Like the saga bird, the raven, 
 Presaging to every craven 
 
 Heart its overthrow. 
 
I50 RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. 
 
 Swooping downward, upward lifting, 
 Wildly flying, slowly drifting 
 
 By on outspread wing; 
 Poising deftly, circling trimly 
 Overhead, and ever grimly 
 
 Narrowing the ring. 
 Taking loathly joy in viewing 
 Fray and bloodshed, death and ruin, 
 
 Pitch of human ill; 
 Gathering in filthy caucus, 
 Calling ghoul-like with the raucous 
 
 Note that carries chill, 
 Kite and buzzard each to other. 
 Carrion mate to carrion brother, 
 
 " Come and glut your fill; 
 Gorge yourselves, a banquet regal, 
 Fit for vulture, fit for eagle. 
 
 Feast beyond compare 
 Witless men are now providing, 
 While the lords of prey are riding 
 
 In the quiet air, 
 
RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. 151 
 
 Watching butchery and ravage, 
 Grip on throttle, grapple savage, 
 
 Choking gurgling breath; 
 Men expiring, gasping, shrieking, 
 Till the air around is reeking 
 
 With the taint of death. 
 Nearer yet and nearer flying. 
 Hover o'er the dead and dying, 
 Each to other bravely crying, 
 
 ' Meat is sweetest raw,' 
 Fasten on the upward staring 
 Faces and the eye-balls glaring. 
 
 Hack with bill and claw; 
 Flesh with beak and talon gripping. 
 Flesh from bone and sinew stripping, 
 
 Till with glutted craw. 
 Of the banquet nothing bated. 
 Lust of ofifal richly sated. 
 We, the scavengers, elated. 
 
 Slowly homeward draw." 
 
152 RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER, 
 
 Rio Pecos, Pecos River, 
 Think thereon, thou quiet Hver 
 In the land of law and order. 
 Far from that debated border 
 
 Where a day of doom. 
 Chambers dark of fate unlocking 
 Turned the Indian's bitter mocking 
 
 Into sullen gloom; 
 Pride of dusky chieftain humbling, 
 Till the red man, backward stumbling, 
 
 Gave the white man room; 
 Chilled and quenched his fire and fettle 
 As in water heat of metal 
 
 Plunged, is lost in spume; 
 Racial passions banked and serried. 
 Burying, as men are buried 
 
 In the quiet tomb. 
 Like some sorely wounded giant. 
 Half despairing, half defiant, 
 Crouched the Indian, still reliant 
 
 On his numbers' strength; 
 
RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. 153 
 
 Shrinking from yet braving trial, 
 Seeing with a keen espial 
 Fated hour that mocked denial 
 
 Surely come at length; 
 While the rugged Texas Ranger, 
 Scorning life and courting danger. 
 
 With his eye of blue 
 Unexultant viewed the wheeling 
 Mob of riders, only feeling 
 
 Hundreds were a few; 
 Steadily his station keeping, 
 As the shouting, rushing, leaping 
 
 Foemen closer drew; 
 Flower of the Apache nation 
 Saw displayed without elation, 
 
 Saw and surely knew 
 Tragedy supreme in acting; 
 Servant he of fate, exacting 
 
 Vengeance overdue. 
 Every hero single-handed 
 Facing squad of Indians banded, 
 
154 RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. 
 
 As an eagle crows; 
 Rifle firmly pressed to shoulder, 
 Scanning every bush and boulder 
 
 Whence his ambushed foes, 
 Lying prone, then swiftly springing 
 Upward, sent the bullet singing 
 
 Through the parting air. 
 Closer yet his weapon clinching, 
 Arm and eye alike unflinching. 
 
 Spread the skilful snare, 
 Drew the savage from his cover. 
 Chased him as the kite the plover, 
 
 Drove him from his lair; 
 Stern and cool his wily foeman 
 Fronting, as of old the Roman 
 
 Soldier Gallia's horde, 
 Saw them bending, breaking, flying. 
 Falling, till the dead and dying 
 
 Choked the Pecos ford; 
 Fleeing from his aim unerring 
 As from dogfish flees the herring. 
 
RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. 155 
 
 Mackerel from shark; 
 Cowering, scudding as the partridge 
 From the missile of the cartridge 
 
 Sped toward the mark. 
 Smiled the Ranger, as though chasing- 
 Men were pleasure, calmly facing- 
 Death and final throe; 
 Saw unmoved the life blood flowing 
 Down his side, unshaken knowing 
 
 That the set of sun 
 Meant to him, the restless rover. 
 Journey's ending, labour over, 
 
 Human errand done. 
 Death to him, devoid of terrors, 
 Brought forgiveness for his errors, 
 
 Came in peace and love; 
 Buying for a life of sinning 
 Pardon thus, and surely winning 
 
 Mercy from above. 
 Nay, that reckless Indian fighter, 
 Thus in death the calm requiter 
 
156 RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. 
 
 Of a people's tear, 
 Man himself, to woman tender, 
 Hero born, and stanch defender, 
 
 Knowing naught of fear, 
 Leaves a name that annal hoary 
 Still shall keep embalmed in story, 
 Crimson with the flame of glory, 
 
 Texas pioneer. 
 
 Rio Pecos, Pecos River, 
 This the tale thou didst deliver 
 On a day in early summer. 
 To a foreigner, late comer 
 
 To thy bank and stream. 
 Seemed to him that story tragic 
 Interwoven with the magic 
 
 Glamour of a dream. 
 Softly o'er the sands below him 
 Passed the Pecos River, flowing 
 
 Southward evermore ; 
 
RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. 157 
 
 While a breeze of summer, blowing 
 Ruffling counter to its going, 
 Trailing flotsam backward throwing. 
 
 Drove the swell before ; 
 Water's face with bubbles stippling, 
 Till the wavelet, gently rippling, 
 
 Lapped the further shore. 
 Overhead in azure heaven 
 Feathered scavengers eleven, 
 Turkey-buzzards four and seven 
 
 Quietly did fare, 
 Tranquilly in ether floating. 
 Seemed asleep, to them denoting 
 Naught that worthy was of coting 
 
 Water, earth or air. 
 Landward, on the waving grasses 
 Calmly browsing, slowly passes 
 
 Many a prairie steer. 
 While a troop of frolic ponies. 
 Scattering the startled conies. 
 
 Suddenly appear, 
 
RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. 
 
 Wheeling round the mesquite bushes, 
 Nibbhng damtily the rushes 
 
 Of the gramma sere. 
 Peacefully the cattle blinking, 
 Peacefully and never shrinking 
 
 From the watcher's eye; 
 Tunefully the horse-bell tinkling. 
 Mares at rest, with never inkling 
 
 Of a danger nigh, 
 Set the wayworn stranger thinking 
 And the scene before him linking 
 
 With a day gone by; 
 Past and present times contrasting. 
 Into union everlasting 
 
 Blending quietly. 
 Times of joy and plenty double 
 Following on dearth and trouble 
 
 As the day the night. 
 After hours of dark confusion. 
 When the sun in glad profusion 
 
 Sheds abroad his light. 
 
RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. 159 
 
 Chasing grief and cheering sorrow, 
 Bringing with the shining morrow 
 
 Comfort and dehght. 
 This the lesson, God doth never 
 From his faithful servants sever, 
 But abides with them for ever, 
 
 Still defends the right; 
 Cometh goodness out of badness, 
 Cometh soundness out of madness, 
 Cometh gladness out of sadness, 
 
 Concord out of strife; 
 After sorrow cometh singing, 
 After death shall come the ringing 
 Chant of joy, our spirits bringing 
 
 To the perfect life. 
 
 Rio Pecos, Pecos River, 
 Poet, kneel and thank the Giver 
 Of all good, that war and riot. 
 Yielding place to peace and quiet, 
 
i6o RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. 
 
 Now are overpast; 
 And this smiling Pecos Valley, 
 Scene of many an Indian sally, 
 
 Has beheld the last. 
 Nevermore from bluff or barrow 
 Forth shall fly the Indian arrow. 
 
 Hissing poisoned breath; 
 Nevermore need ranger's rifle 
 Teach the red man that to trifle 
 
 With the white means death. 
 Nevermore shall dusky raiders 
 Hover round the pale invaders 
 
 Of their hunting grounds; 
 Brave and squaw alike departed 
 Scare no more the timid-hearted 
 
 Farmer with the sounds 
 Which his ear too well construing 
 Knew to mean dismay and ruin, 
 
 As the bay of hounds 
 Tells the antelopes, arousing 
 Buck and does from peaceful browsing. 
 
RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. i6i 
 
 Sudden death is near. 
 Tranquil work and quiet tillage 
 Now take place of raid and pillage, 
 
 Treachery and fear; 
 Waving fields of corn and forage 
 Greet the stranger and encourage 
 
 Him to persevere. 
 There the settler's worthy labour, 
 Unrestrained by lawless neighbour. 
 
 Steadily proceeds. 
 Changing, like some kindly fairy, 
 Barren hill and arid prairie 
 
 Into woods and meads. 
 Orchard, tilth and vineyard spreading 
 Round the farmer's modest steading. 
 
 Gladdening his home; 
 Neigh of horse and low of cattle 
 Mingling with his children's prattle. 
 
 While the sandy loam, 
 After centuries of slumber 
 Wakes, the tiller's barn to cumber 
 
i62 RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER, 
 
 With a plenteous yield ; 
 Teaching him no more to grumble 
 At his lot and prize the humble 
 
 Labours of the field; 
 Teaching him to shun the hollow 
 Ways of men and meekly follow 
 
 Nature where she leads, 
 Thanking her, the generator. 
 Thanking humbly the Creator 
 
 Who his daily needs 
 Thus providing, sets before him 
 Table bountiful and o'er him 
 
 Stretches out His arm; 
 He, the Guardian unsleeping, 
 Evermore His servant keeping 
 
 Well secured from harm. 
 Thank Him, farmer, for the morning, 
 Thank Him for the eve's adorning. 
 
 Thank Him for the rain; 
 Thank Him when the night is ended, 
 Thank Him when the sun descended 
 
RIO PECOS, PECOS RIVER. 163 
 
 Bringeth in its train 
 Ease of labour, homeward wending-, 
 To the great Provider bending. 
 
 Thank Him once again. 
 Kneel before Him, valley tiller. 
 Kneel before the great Fulfiller 
 
 Of thy peaceful days; 
 Thus thy labour vivifying. 
 Thus thy living purifying, 
 Thus thy dying sanctifying, 
 
 Give to Him the praise. 
 
L'ENVOL 
 
 Thou little volume of my verse, 
 
 Go forth, and murmur not, 
 I needs must put thee out to nurse, 
 
 For such, alas! thy lot. 
 To beg thy bread from strangers' hands, 
 
 An exile from thy home, 
 A wanderer over seas and lands. 
 
 My little book, to roam. 
 
 A slender weanling still thou art. 
 
 Scarce fit to walk alone. 
 Yet maybe none will take thy part 
 
 Or heed thy feeble moan. 
 " O, take me up! " I hear thee cry, 
 
 *' My author turns me out! " 
 The busy public pass thee by, 
 
 Or listen but to flout. 
 164 
 
rENVOI. 165 
 
 Ah, cruel fate that wills it so, 
 
 Dear booklet of my heart, 
 I scarce can bear to see thee go. 
 
 Yet thou and I must part. 
 Tho' for thy sake thy father stays 
 
 Behind thee at the Ranch, 
 His love attends thee on thy ways. 
 
 Thou little olive-branch. 
 
 Perchance the world is not so cold 
 
 As thou, my book, dost fear. 
 And some kind friend thy hand may hold 
 
 And whisper words of cheer. 
 If such there be, whate'er his name. 
 
 Straight to his breast repair. 
 Stake out within his heart thy claim. 
 
 And build thy homestead there. 
 
I5 
 
't 
 
 i 
 
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