FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143  
144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   >>  
watch, gave him the chance of earning Scant means to live--who won the right to die. All this I heard--or seemed to hear--half blending With the low murmur of the coming breeze, The call of some lost bird, and the unending And tireless sobbing of those grassy seas. Until at last the spell of desolation Broke with a trembling star and far-off cry. The coming train! I glanced around the station, All was as empty as the upper sky! Naught but myself; nor form nor figure waking The long hushed level and stark shining waste; Naught but myself, that cry, and the dull shaking Of wheel and axle, stopped in breathless haste! "Now, then--look sharp! Eh, what? The Station-Master? THAR'S NONE! We stopped here of our own accord. The man got killed in that down-train disaster This time last evening. Right there! All aboard!" THE MISSION BELLS OF MONTEREY O bells that rang, O bells that sang Above the martyrs' wilderness, Till from that reddened coast-line sprang The Gospel seed to cheer and bless, What are your garnered sheaves to-day? O Mission bells! Eleison bells! O Mission bells of Monterey! O bells that crash, O bells that clash Above the chimney-crowded plain, On wall and tower your voices dash, But never with the old refrain; In mart and temple gone astray! Ye dangle bells! Ye jangle bells! Ye wrangle bells of Monterey! O bells that die, so far, so nigh, Come back once more across the sea; Not with the zealot's furious cry, Not with the creed's austerity; Come with His love alone to stay, O Mission bells! Eleison bells! O Mission bells of Monterey! * This poem was set to music by Monsieur Charles Gounod. "CROTALUS" (RATTLESNAKE BAR, SIERRAS) No life in earth, or air, or sky; The sunbeams, broken silently, On the bared rocks around me lie,-- Cold rocks with half-warmed lichens scarred, And scales of moss; and scarce a yard Away, one long strip, yellow-barred. Lost in a cleft! 'Tis but a stride To reach it, thrust its roots aside, And lift it on thy stick astride! Yet stay! That moment is thy grace! For round thee, thrilling air and space, A chattering terror fills the place! A sound as of dry
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143  
144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   >>  



Top keywords:
Mission
 

Monterey

 

Eleison

 
Naught
 

stopped

 

coming

 

wrangle

 

austerity

 

zealot

 

furious


jangle

 
thrilling
 

refrain

 
voices
 
terror
 

chattering

 

dangle

 

astray

 

chimney

 

temple


crowded

 

Monsieur

 

scarce

 

scales

 

scarred

 
astride
 

thrust

 

barred

 

stride

 

yellow


lichens

 

warmed

 
SIERRAS
 

RATTLESNAKE

 

CROTALUS

 

Charles

 

Gounod

 

moment

 

sunbeams

 

broken


silently
 
wilderness
 

trembling

 

glanced

 

desolation

 
grassy
 

station

 
shining
 
shaking
 

figure