The Nevada journal., 1851-11-20
POETRY.
THE SONG OF IRON.
BY C. W. CUTTER.

Where the craters lurid clouds aspire
Ger the darkened plains below;
Let the weight of your pondrous ham,
mers smite
With the power of the mountain stream
Or thunder beneath the earthquake
might
That dwells in the arm of steam!
Tho cannot boast the diamonds hue
The tempting CLEAN of gold,
With which, by the arts of the grasping
few,
The nations are bought and sold
Yet in my presence more priceless far
Than the blaze of the earths royal gem
That ever has kindled ducal star,
Or famed in a diadem.
In the fearful depths Of the rayless mine
My giant strength was laid
Ere the sun, or the moon, or the stars
that shine
In the boundless heavens were made;
Ere darkness was rolled from the deep
away;
Ere the skies were spread abroad;
Ere the words that called up the light
of day
Were breathed by the lips of God
Yc were but poor and powerless race
Till yc wisely sought my aid;
Ye dwelt like the beasts OF the savage
chase,
In the gloom of the forest shade;
Where often the nomad yielded his
hearth
To the wolf, in pale alright,
And the tooth Of the lion stained the
earth
With the blood of the troglodyte.
How helpless ye saw the descending
rain,
The waters resistless flow,
The frost that scared the verdant plain,
And the binding drifts of snow
For you no steer his neck would yield
No steed your slave weuld be;
Ye tracd no burrows along the field,
No pathways DER the sea!
The myriad stars came forth at even
The bow of God was bent
lnscribing the wonderous laws of Heaven
Ger the measureless armament,
Bright consultations rose and fed
The fair moon waxed and waned;
But the record which they nightly
spread
Unknown to you remained.
But when some prescient spark Of mind
Invaded my lone retreat,
And ye learned my Protcus form to
bind,
And fashion, with fervent heat,
The cleaning sword from the flames
leap'd out
And the hook for the golden grain;
And the air grew vocal with the free
dom's shout
Where the tyrants of earth were slaina
Then rose the dome and the lofty tower
Where the groaning forest fell;
And the massive guns look'd frowning
Ger
The walls of the citadel.
The dizzy and tapering s'eeple sprung,
And flashed in the summer air;
And the pendent bell in the turrct swung
To summon the world to prayer;
Stout ships encountered the bowling
storms
On the trackless sea secure;
For held the fate Of their gallant
forms,
And my grasp is strong and sure.
Midst the lightning's gleam and the
tempests roar,
They feared not the angry main,
For they cast their trusty anchors DER,
And laughed at the hurricane.
At my touch the massive column soar'd!
The graceful arch was thrown :.
And forms of beauty the world adored
Rose up in deathcsa stone.
Ye rivalled the tints of the blushing
dawn
With the hues my dust supplied,
Till the humblest work of art has shown
Like the mist by rainbows dyed.
| come where the suffering patient lies
On his couch, all wan and week.
And the lustre returns to his sunken
eyes,
And the bloom 10 his pailid cheek.
Ye fear not the roar Of the thunder
loud
Ye sleep with the storms around;
For the bolt clutch in threateningcloud
Falls harmless to the ground. "
Where tread, the crooked paths grow
straight
The old hills disappear
And draw each distant hostile State,
In friendly commerce near
Swift through veins by the lightning
Your thoughtsiike the tempest sweep,
Till knowledge has covered the rolling
world,
AS the waters have covered the deep.
And soon ye shall see my massive ore
In many grander pile
Than ever adorned the Iibers shore'
Or the banks of the ancient Niie'
The sacred temple shall rear Its rooi'
The cottage for social glee,
The frowning fortress, handicapped,