Black Beetles in Amber | Page 4

bean.?The trembling waiter, by the statesman's eye?Smitten with terror, hastens to comply;?Nor chairs nor tables can his speed retard,?For famine's fixed and horrible regard?He takes for menace. As he shaking flew,?Lo! the portentous Pixley heaved in view!?Before him yawned invisible the cell,?Unheard, behind, the warden's footsteps fell.?Thrice in convention rising to his feet,?He thrice had been thrust back into his seat;?Thrice had protested, been reminded thrice?The nation had no need of his advice.?Balked of his will to set the people right,?His soul was gloomy though his hat was white,?So fierce his mien, with provident accord?The waiters swarmed him, thinking him a lord.?He spurned them, roaring grandly to their chief:?"Give me (Fred. Crocker pays) a leg of beef!"?His wandering eye's deluminating flame?Fell upon Gorham and the crisis came!?For Pixley scowled and darkness filled the room?Till Gorham's flashing orbs dispelled the gloom.?The patrons of the place, by fear dismayed,?Sprang to the street and left their scores unpaid.?So, when Jove thunders and his lightnings gleam?To sour the milk and curdle, too, the cream,?And storm-clouds gather on the shadowed hill,?The ass forsakes his hay, the pig his swill.?Hotly the heroes now engaged--their breath?Came short and hard, as in the throes of death.?They clenched their hands, their weapons brandished high,?Cut, stabbed, and hewed, nor uttered any cry,?But gnashed their teeth and struggled on! In brief,?One ate his bacon, t'other one his beef.
MATTER FOR GRATITUDE
[Especially should we be thankful for having escaped the ravages of the yellow scourge by which our neighbors have been so sorely afflicted.--_Governor Stoneman's Thanksgiving Proclamation._]
Be pleased, O Lord, to take a people's thanks?That Thine avenging sword has spared our ranks--?That Thou hast parted from our lips the cup?And forced our neighbors' lips to drink it up.?Father of Mercies, with a heart contrite?We thank Thee that Thou goest south to smite,?And sparest San Francisco's loins, to crack?Thy lash on Hermosillo's bleeding back--?That o'er our homes Thine awful angel spread?His wings in vain, and Guaymas weeps instead.
We praise Thee, God, that Yellow Fever here?His horrid banner has not dared to rear,?Consumption's jurisdiction to contest,?Her dagger deep in every second breast!?Catarrh and Asthma and Congestive Chill?Attest Thy bounty and perform Thy will.?These native messengers obey Thy call--?They summon singly, but they summon all.?Not, as in Mexico's impested clime,?Can Yellow Jack commit recurring crime.?We thank Thee that Thou killest all the time.
Thy tender mercies, Father, never end:?Upon all heads Thy blessings still descend,?Though their forms vary. Here the sown seeds yield?Abundant grain that whitens all the field--?There the smit corn stands barren on the plain,?Thrift reaps the straw and Famine gleans in vain.?Here the fat priest to the contented king?Points out the contrast and the people sing--?There mothers eat their offspring. Well, at least?Thou hast provided offspring for the feast.?An earthquake here rolls harmless through the land,?And Thou art good because the chimneys stand--?There templed cities sink into the sea,?And damp survivors, howling as they flee,?Skip to the hills and hold a celebration?In honor of Thy wise discrimination.
O God, forgive them all, from Stoneman down,?Thy smile who construe and expound Thy frown,?And fall with saintly grace upon their knees?To render thanks when Thou dost only sneeze.
THREE KINDS OF A ROGUE
I
Sharon, ambitious of immortal shame,?Fame's dead-wall daubed with his illustrious name--?Served in the Senate, for our sins, his time,?Each word a folly and each vote a crime;?Law for our governance well skilled to make?By knowledge gained in study how to break;?Yet still by the presiding eye ignored,?Which only sought him when too loud he snored.?Auspicious thunder!--when he woke to vote?He stilled his own to cut his country's throat;?That rite performed, fell off again to sleep,?While statesmen ages dead awoke to weep!?For sedentary service all unfit,?By lying long disqualified to sit,?Wasting below as he decayed aloft,?His seat grown harder as his brain grew soft,?He left the hall he could not bring away,?And grateful millions blessed the happy day!?Whate'er contention in that hall is heard,?His sovereign State has still the final word:?For disputatious statesmen when they roar?Startle the ancient echoes of his snore,?Which from their dusty nooks expostulate?And close with stormy clamor the debate.?To low melodious thunders then they fade;?Their murmuring lullabies all ears invade;?Peace takes the Chair; the portal Silence keeps;?No motion stirs the dark Lethean deeps--?Washoe has spoken and the Senate sleeps.
II
Lo! the new Sharon with a new intent,?Making no laws, but keen to circumvent?The laws of Nature (since he can't repeal)?That break his failing body on the wheel.?As Tantalus again and yet again?The elusive wave endeavors to restrain?To slake his awful thirst, so Sharon tries?To purchase happiness that age denies;?Obtains the shadow, but the substance goes,?And hugs the thorn, but cannot keep the rose;?For Dead Sea fruits bids prodigally, eats,?And then, with tardy reformation--cheats.?Alert his faculties as three score years?And four score vices will permit, he nears--?Dicing with Death--the finish of the game,?And curses still