Hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1843-1845, 1843-12-21
TIL A w X e Y f..
BurItmgton:
Thursday, December Ell, 1879.

The following Ode was pronounced by
Coleridge to be one of the best he ever
read. The author of it is Mr. Priugl1 who
formerly travelled in Africa
AFFAIR I'm THE DESERT
AFFAIR in the desert love to ride
With the silent Bush-boy alone by nay side
When the sorrows of Life the soul DER cast,
And sick Of the Present l cling to the Past;
When the eye is sufused with regretful
tears,
From the fond recollections of former years,
And the shadows OF things that had long
since fed
Fit Ger the brain like ghosts of the dead
Bright visions of glorv-that vanished too
Day-dreams-that departed e'er manhood's
noon;
Attachments-by fate or by falsohood .eft;
Companions of early days-lost or left
And my native land, whose magical name,
Thrills TO the heart like electric flame,
The home Of my chldhood-the haunts Of
my prime
All the passions and scenes of that raptuI-
Gus time,
When the fee lings were young and the
world was new
Like the fresh bowers of Eden unfolding to
view;
Allah now forsak orgotten--forgone!
And Ia lone exile-remembered by none;
NV high aims abandoned-my good acts
undonc-
Aweary of all that is under the sun.
With a sadness of heart which no stranger
may scan,
| f1v to the Desert afar from man.
Afar in the desert love 20 ride,
With the silent Bush boy alone by my side;
When the Wild turmoil Of this wearisome
life,
W it'll the scenes of oppression, corruption
and strife
The proud mans lrown and the base mans
fears
The scorner's laugh and the sufferers tears;
And malice, and meanness-and falseness
and folly,
Dispose me TO musing the dark melancholy;
When my bosom is full, and nay thoughts
airs high.
And my soul is sick with the bondsman S
sigh
CT thsn thsaEs is freedom, aud Joy. and
pride,
Mar in the desert alone TO ride .
There. is rapture to Tanlt the champing
steed, = 'N- -,
And to bound away with the eagles speed
With the dcath-lraught fre-lock III my
hand
The only law OF the Desert Land
Alarm the Desert | love to ride,
Y It'll the silent Bush boy alone by my side
Away, away, in the wilderness vast,
" here the white mans foot hath never
passed,
And the auivered Coranna or Bechuan
Hath scarcely crossed vi.h his rowing elan;
And region Of emptiness, howling and drcar
Which man hatii abandoned from famine
and fear,
Whic! the sucker and lizard inhabit alone
" 18th Tie twilight bat from the yawny stone,
Where grass, nor herb, nor shrub take root,
Save poisonous thovns which pierce the
foot
And the litter melon for food and d,ink.
Is the pilgrims fare by the Salt Lake brink
A region of drouth where no river glides,
Nor ripping brook with its grassy sides
W here scdgy pool, nor bubbling fount,
Nor tree, nor cloud, nor misty mount
A ppears, to refresh the aching eye;
But the barren earth and the burning sky,
And the black horizon, round and round,
opread--Volu OF living siSHl OF SouHu
And here, while the nigh winds around me
sigh,
And the stars burn bright in the midnight
sky,
AS sit afar by the desert stone,
Like Eli all at Horeb's cave alone,
A still small voice comes through the wild,
Like father conso!ing his fretful child,
Which ban ishcs bitterness, wrath and fear,
SAYING" Man is distant, but God is near. :"