Page:In bad company and other stories.djvu/173

 He stands upon a time-worn block; His dark form shrouds the snowy rock, As cypress marble tomb; Nor fierce, yet wild and sad his mien, His cloud-black tresses wave and stream, His deep tones break the gloom.

"Son of a tribe accurst, of those Whose greed has broken our repose Of the long ages dead; Think not for naught our ancient race Quit olden haunts, the sacred place Of toils for ever fled.

"List while I tell of days to come, When men shall wish the hammers dumb That ring so ceaseless now— That every arm were palsy-tied, Nor ever wet on grey hillside Was the gold-seeker's brow.

"I see the old world's human tide Set southward on the Ocean wide, I see a wood of masts; While crime and want, disease and death, By rolling wave and storm-wind's breath Are on these fair shores cast.

"I see the murderer's barrel gleam, I hear the victim's hopeless scream Ring through these sylvan wastes: While each base son of elder lands, Each witless dastard, in vast bands, To the gold city hastes.

"Disease shall claim her ready toll, Flushed vice and brutal crime the dole Of life shall ne'er deny; Disease and death shall walk your streets, While staggering idiocy greets The horror-stricken eye!

"All men shall roll in the gold mire, The height, the depth, of man's desire, Till come the famine years; Then all the land shall curse the day When first they rifled the dull clay, With deep remorseful tears.

"Fell want shall wake to fearful life The fettered demons; civil strife Rears high a gory hand; I see a blood-splashed barricade, While dimly lights the twilight glade The soldier's flashing brand.