Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1879-09-30
For the SPECTATOR.
PARODY ON THE DREAM OF DARKNESS.
BY ROLLA RYAN.

II had dream, it was not all dream"
The damning stills of earth were all destroyed,
And the liquors that were already made
From bottles, demijohns and iron-bound casks,
Were all out-poured upon the thirsty earth.
Where it drank the burning draught, the soul
was scared,
Scorched and bare of vegetation ever.
With the stills, consumed were all receipts
For making every alcoholic drink,
And lost forever from the minds of men
Was the cunning, for their reproduction.
All this, me thought, was at the dead of night,
While the bloated eyes of sots were stalled;
They all unconscious Of the mighty change.
But, when the weary eyes of all this kind,
Were opened from their drunken slumber,
They sought at once the sweetly subtle poison,
To assuage the burning thirst itself had made,
80 wide the gates of hell were opened,
But quenched were all the fires within.
The dust of ages, seemingly, had choked
The once bright bottles where they corkless
lay.
Like festal hall just disintered,
OF ancient Sodom, or of old Gomorrah,
Stood the palace drinking rooms of yesterday.
Bar-room mirrors in the early light of morn
Reflected pallid faces, drawn with pain.
Palsied hands did search, land ever va1nly
search
'Mong the broken bottles thickly strewn
around,
For one drop of liquid fire; but only one.
To feed the famished, tortured fend within.
Bursting the interviewer web of years,
Where ancient spiders fattened on decay,
Like subteranean wolves in search of prey
Men ranged through cellars, dank, dark, and
mouldy,
Where the bursting of each empty cask,
Was greeted by mournful howls of rage,
Followed by piteous walls of deep despair.
Long they searched, ''but ever vainly searched
In the ghostly glare, of torches Pickering dim
With quaking limbs that scarce suffice to beal
The weight of agony that fills each frame,
They lift with trembling hand the tempting
cup
Only to dash it down. with ever deepening
groans.
At last the hopeless search is given DER;
They rush into the street to confiscate
The loads of fruit, and grain, designed for food
And pile them into caldrons, deep, and wide.
While some did fuel bring, some famed the
flame,
And then when all the great pots boiled,
And frothed, and foamed, they stood around,
With wistful looks, and stirred the seethinI
mass.
Oft as they failed to make the drink the,
sought.
They cursed, and fought, around the barrel
still.
Then the rich offered all their untold wealth.
For one draught of spirits, of the meanest kind
The envious poor did form in hostile clans
And openly accuse the helpless rich,
Ofhaving bought, and all the drink concealed
Thus the first sad day passed; and when tn
night
Set in again the earth had then become
A hell, beneath a starry canopy.
Riot, and murder, stalking hand in hand,
Demanded, "drink or BLOOD" at every door.
The drains did run with blood of the self slain
Delirium wildly shrieked aloud,
And with airy phantoms fiercely fought;
And with curses loud, from ashen foam-fecke
lips.
Died in contest with imaginary foes.
Many of the thrones of earth were empty;
And uncrowned monarchs mingled with tn
mob,
Counting obscurity in search of drink.
Deserted stood the legislative halls;
And silence reigned within the house of God;
For the candied tongues that once were wont
To glibly offer up the practiced prayer,
For want of stimulants were now quite dumb
Many that the world had thought warriors
Against this arch enemy of mankind,
Its slaves-as proven now-had ever been.
Alas, no scourge that ever dashed the race,
Has scored such carnage with tribes of men.
But two of an honored club, convivial,
Did yet survive, and they were Senators,
They met at bar near the capitol,
And softly moved. with purpose to unearth-
A private jug, they hoped to find yet full.
With trembling hands they bore it to the light
Twas empty! Looking with CHASTITY glare,
Each into the others face they shrieked an
died.
Yes, even of the jimjams there they died.
Their country had no longer need of them;
The whisky was all gone.