Black Beetles in Amber Part 10

THE UNFALLEN BRAVE

Not all in sorrow and in tears, To pay of grat.i.tude's arrears The yearly sum-- Not prompted, wholly by the pride Of those for whom their friends have died, To-day we come.

Another aim we have in view Than for the buried boys in blue To drop a tear: Memorial Day revives the chin Of Barnes, and Salomon chimes in-- That's why we're here.

And when in after-ages they Shall pa.s.s, like mortal men, away, Their war-song sung, Then fame will tell the tale anew Of how intrepidly they drew The deadly tongue.

Then cull white lilies for the graves Of Liberty's loquacious braves, And roses red.

Those represent their livers, these The blood that in unmeasured seas They did not shed.

A CELEBRATED CASE

Way down in the Boom Belt lived Mrs. Roselle; A person named Petrie, he lived there as well; But Mr. Roselle he resided away-- Sing tooral iooral iooral iay.

Once Mrs. Roselle in her room was alone: The flesh of her flesh and the bone of her bone Neglected the wife of his bosom to woo-- Sing tooral iooral iooral ioo.

Then Petrie, her lover, appeared at the door, Remarking: "My dear; I don't love you no more."

"That's awfully rough," said the lady, "on me-- Sing tooral iooral iooral iee."

"Come in, Mr. Petrie," she added, "pray do: Although you don't love me no more, I love you.

Sit down while I spray you with vitriol now-- Sing tooral iooral iooral iow."

Said Petrie: "That liquid I know won't agree With my beauty, and then you'll no longer love me; So spray and be "--O, what a word he did say!-- Sing tooral iooral iooral iay.

She deluged his head and continued to pour Till his bonny blue eyes, like his love, were no more.

It was seldom he got such a hearty shampoo-- Sing tooral iooral iooral ioo.

Then Petrie he rose and said: "Mrs. Roselle, I have an engagement and bid you farewell."

"You see," she began to explain--but not he!-- Sing tooral, iooral, iooral iee.

The Sheriff he came and he offered his arm, Saying, "Sorry I am for disturbin' you, marm, But business is business." Said she, "So they say-- Sing tooral, iooral, iooral iay."

The Judge on the bench he looked awfully stern; The District Attorney began to attorn; The witnesses lied and the lawyers--O my!-- Sing tooral, iooral, iooral iyi.

The chap that defended her said: "It's our claim That he loved us no longer and told us the same.

What else than we did could we decently do?-- Sing tooral, iooral, iooral ioo."

The District Attorney, sarcastic, replied: "We loved you no longer--that can't be denied.

Not having no eyes we may dote on you now-- Sing tooral, iooral, iooral iow."

The prisoner wept to entoken her fears; The sockets of Petrie were flooded with tears.

O heaven-born Sympathy, bully for you!-- Sing tooral, iooral, iooral ioo.

Four jurors considered the prisoner mad, And four thought her victim uncommonly bad, And four that the acid was all in his eye-- Sing rum tiddy iddity iddity hi.

COUPLETS

Intended for Inscription on a Sword Presented to Colonel Cutting of the National Guard of California.

I am for Cutting. I'm a blade Designed for use at dress parade.

My gleaming length, when I display Peace rules the land with gentle sway; But when the war-dogs bare their teeth Go seek me in the modest sheath.

I am for Cutting. Not for me The task of setting nations free.

Let soulless blades take human life, My softer metal shuns the strife.

The annual review is mine, When gorgeous shopmen sweat and s.h.i.+ne, And Biddy, tip-toe on the pave, Adores the cobble-trotting brave.

I am for Cutting. 'Tis not mine To hew amain the hostile line; Not mine all pitiless to spread The plain with tumuli of dead.

My grander duty lies afar From haunts of the insane hussar, Where charging horse and struggling foot Are grimed alike with cannon-soot.

When Loveliness and Valor meet Beneath the trees to dance, and eat, And sing, and much beside, behold My golden glories all unfold!

There formidably are displayed The useful horrors of my blade In time of feast and dance and ballad, I am for cutting chicken salad.

A RETORT

As vicious women think all men are knaves, And shrew-bound gentlemen discourse of slaves; As reeling drunkards judge the world unsteady And idlers swear employers ne'er get ready-- Thieves that the constable stole all they had, The mad that all except themselves are mad; So, in another's clear escutcheon shown, Barnes rails at stains reflected from his own; Prates of "docility," nor feels the dark Ring round his neck--the Ralston collar mark.

Back, man, to studies interrupted once, Ere yet the rogue had merged into the dunce.

Back, back to Yale! and, grown with years discreet, The course a virgin's l.u.s.t cut short, complete.

Go drink again at the Pierian pool, And learn--at least to better play the fool.

No longer scorn the draught, although the font, Unlike Pactolus, waters not Belmont.

A VISION OF RESURRECTION

I had a dream. The habitable earth-- Its continents and islands, all were bare Of cities and of forests. Naught remained Of its old aspect, and I only knew (As men know things in dreams, unknowing how) That this was earth and that all men were dead.

On every side I saw the barren land, Even to the distant sky's inclosing blue, Thick-pitted all with graves; and all the graves Save one were open--not as newly dug, But rather as by some internal force Riven for egress. Tombs of stone were split And wide agape, and in their iron decay The ma.s.sive mausoleums stood in halves.

With mildewed linen all the ground was white.

Discarded shrouds upon memorial stones Hung without motion in the soulless air.

While greatly marveling how this should be I heard, or fancied that I heard, a voice, Low like an angel's, delicately strong, And sweet as music.

--"Spirit," it said, "behold The burial place of universal Man!

A million years have rolled away since here His sheeted mult.i.tudes (save only some Whose dark misdeeds required a separate And individual arraignment) rose To judgment at the trumpet's summoning And pa.s.sed into the sky for their award, Leaving behind these perishable things Which yet, preserved by miracle, endure Till all are up. Then they and all of earth, Rock-hearted mountain and storm-breasted sea, River and wilderness and sites of dead And vanished capitals of men, shall spring To flame, and naught shall be for evermore!

When all are risen that wonder will occur.

'Twas but ten centuries ago the last But one came forth--a soul so black with sin, Against whose name so many crimes were set That only now his trial is at end.

But one remains."