The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1874-12-10
NRHKLE GTATREMAN

Il bBkLY MATkSMM
ronL1sHED By
- WALKER.
- eAaawala- sosEEH wAEksH
AUSTIN
thursday ..-.. DECEMBER 10. 1874
lFr the DemocnfIc statcsmanl
THE SCORPION.
~ nDE-
lie sits 10 he sea GIT chamber,
ABSORPTION old and grey,
IN dim Vsnician prison van
Round which The waters play:
He has watched me rise q re harvest moon.
Heha heard the sigh Of the dark lagoon
Ecaofhe Gondoiier's rythnie tune
Asths centuries rolled away.
ne sIss n bis sea-gIrt chamber.
A prisoner old and grey,
u tie darkness and nasuld Of the prison walls
Eeis wasting his life away;
He watches The white moon Boffly rise,
BE lists 70 the waters sobblng sighs.
He echoes them back with hisfesbls cries
81 his yeaEs and hopes decay.
ofisn these strange companions
Wll talk when the day q done,
Ashley cit IN niche n the prison wall
II q line With the setting sun;
Talk o. lifelong dead hopes and fears,
Ihoahine and shadow Of vanished years,
tbs roar and rattle, the blood and tears
Of the battles lost and won.
"swiflly the silent ages
Have passed me intheir aight
Since came from old Byzantiam,
In fold Of tissue bright
Brought By one Of Dandola's men.
Ana fung on the couch ofhis mistress. when
lie watched theloye signals blaze sgain
One amorous August night.
! crawled through the shining tissues
That spardcd like golden grain,
And pierced her bosom fair and white frs
Wlfhmy dark and deadly stain;
Why mott Since al love holds Its sting,
And ne quickest death Il the kindllest thing
AgenerOua heart or hand could bring
70 lts WeaFy, ceaseiess pam.
''What is our mystic powerH'
And 'What, the death in our stingf'
The secret for which your human kind
Their curses upon us hingi
The graYe-Wom that no feast can slAke,
The qaenchless IRE from Tpphet's lake,
The yenomed tooth no power can shake
From Is dire and deadly springi
Listen, and learnt this venom n
That gives us mch DEVILS rule sEf
Il born Of yourselves, and not Of rs,
OIL blinded and laundering fOoll f
In the dawn Of days go the legends telll
when Death rode forth from the gates Of he'll,
He found, where the human pulses swell.
His darkest, deadliest tool.
Riding bis bloodiesa charger. ii
He scattered himself aEsand
In many fashion, many q shape,
WAh many direfui sound;
VlsIaus o. death and doom he nursed,
Tll, searching the mystic legends eursed,
He made the scorpi0ns-last and worse
Ia their hellish record found.
Tho arst wasa harmless beetle Atg
Crawling across the sand, un
Ugly. but innocent, Of course,
AsaDything IN the land, H
TIN Death stepped the Flooding. sonselessclny
In two huaanhearts he had WFenehed sway,
And bleeding and quivering, now they lay 80
In the hollow Of his hand. e-
And, out Of the name warm pulsea
The scorpion sucked desire
That burned with flame unquenchable-
Like liquid and melten hres
And, out Of the woman's Icy veins, ah
Fierce jsaloasy's venomed dEaHEht he DRAMA
Pouring rs deadly, poisonous rains.
In tempests that never tire.
And, when he was allied and stated,
Death saw that his work was done.
And the deadlIest spell BY demon wrought
On the human race was won. tit
Now be ye fruitful and MULTIPLY, ~ s.is ~
And do your work ON humanity, lig
For you have q sting that viii never die
While she world rolls round the sum-
The Gondolier's song was ringing
It's melody Wild aud frec.
A. thus the old scorpion bliRked and talked
In his palace By the sea; he es,.+-
And thus the prisoner answered him: tts
The roses are wlthered, the stars are dim,
And a scorpion turks IN each goblet's brim--
Watching and waiting for me. ~ fs