Page:The Fall of the Alamo.djvu/174

 And like a lioness, of her off-spring robbed, Unheeding wounds and death, obey alone The holy law of Nature: Self-defence! [With sublimity.] All this thou knowest not,—wilt never know, As not for thee this wisdom's fountains flow, As not for thee this comfort's breezes blow, As not for thee these blessings bloom and grow. A lonesome, arid desert is thy breast, Whom parching, withering fervors keep opprest, Whom poisonous winds, fierce hurricanes infest, Whom scares the mocking mirage from its rest. The pleasing change of hue and sound and light Whose seasons make the pious heart's delight, Refreshes not thy passion's dreary sight, — only change comes through the might! Yea! tremble, man! thy earthquake is at hand, When outraged Nature, rising fierce and grand, With one accord will wreck what thou hast planned, And wipe thy labors' vestige from the land! All save thy name! that, that alone shall last, And like a stranded vessel's towering mast. Shall overtop the billows of the Past, A warning voice 'gainst wild Ambition's blast. [Taking the keys from the table, Elsie, Santa Anna's sword in hand, leaves the room, which she locks behind her. Crossing; the corridor, she unlocks the room in which