Page:Backblock Ballads and Later Verses (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/113

Rh

Year by year as his harvest grew He gleaned with a lightsome heart; His barns he filled, and he sowed and tilled, Trading in port and mart. Proud of his prowess in sport and trade Was the Fool, who scoffed at an alien raid.

Little he recked of the gathering cloud That boded a swift disgrace. Was he not seed of a manly breed, Proud son of a warlike race? And he told of the deeds that his sires had done— While he wielded a bat in the place of a gun.

Small were his fears in the rich, fat years, Loud was his laugh of scorn When they whispered low of a watching foe, Greedy for gold and corn; A foe grown jealous of trade and power, Marking the treasure, and waiting the hour. And, e'en when the smoke of the raiders' ships Trailed out o'er the northern skies, His laugh was loud: "'Tis a summer cloud," Said the Fool in his Paradise. And, to guard his honour, he gave a gun To the feeble hands of his younger son.