The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-01-09
For the REcoRD-UNIoN.l
THE AZTEC'S MEMORY.

A--A- M IL = -flE-tAOI
Awoke from thousand years of sleep
In buried town on the southern plain,
An Aztec spirit a ne 10 weep
Where il laughed of yore in happy strain.
Twas a sweet, fair day and southern sun
In a flood of light DER the hill slopes run;
The soft wind sang its accustomed tune,
ana the palm leaves bowed in the breath OF
noon:
With feeble, faltering step, and slow
A spirit came with crown of snow
set in 1mperiouS gloom on q brow
That told OF another age than nowl
1t perched on a stone half hid in the sand
Ana shaded its eye, as IL searched the land
With whitening, wilted, trembling hand;
And then in stranger, alien tongue
InlS GOlOrOuS measure sadly SUM:
''Is this my fathers ancient seat of pridee
9 This barren, heated, sterile, lifeleSs plain,
Inc land which surged with majestic tide
Or life and love and liberty and pain?
Are these the fields that bowed with golden
grain,
This heap of sand that stretches far and
From mountain foot down to the southern
main?
o, now I mark with what imperious pride
My fathers marched to meet the surly foe!
ABOVE our homes the sands of ages flow!
''Is this vile spot-this lonely desert place
The site of temples reared by skillful hands,
And formed and fashioned in a matchlesS
grace?
0lcttt SOu. WIidI DSduby Sleeps DSHtdlll iLe
sands!
My heart now sees the happy, peaceful
lands;
And sees the radiance on each beaming face;
Its love was linked with strong and sturdy
bands,
And hope went forth with light and airy pace!
The savage swept the fareSt temples down;
And earthquake came, the inhuman wreck
to crown"
He ceased his measure, and straightway
To the North, with a look that sadly yearned
The dim eye cleaned with u livid light
And the strange, sad brow grew strangely
A tear ran down the brown, bronze face
And then he told, in a moody grace,
How once on the hills of the Southland plain
The fairest nation ocall the earth
Bloomed, like q rose in the gentle rain;
Wherein much grandeur had its birth!
And how those Northern foemen came
A numbering, murderouS. savage band,
Without a home, a flag, or a name,
To crush the face of the fruitful land!
81 mark them now; like demons of the upper
air.
Or devils, rose from out the UNDERWORLD!
a million horse; weird, in the spectral glare:
With shrieks from Hell; but not a flag un-
furledi
Their poisoned arrows in fury whirled,
Nor life, nor grace, nor beauty ever spared:
The eagles wing about each brow was curled;
Strong-armed; tierce-eyed; cold-browed and
raven-haired!
And showered their arrows; Death was in the
sting!
with sudden breath, the desert quickly
Into surging, seething, restless. roaring
OF bristling lance; the sky.that once was blue
Lost all its azure; every arm was free
And down the heavens cloud of arrows
few;
Twas death to stand, to cry, or pray. or flee:
The murderOuS hands bound nj 70
knew!
God never wiIled such direful things to be !!
What Is their fate! Let scattering wigwams
The tale of those fierce, murderous hosts of
He'll
''When carnage ceased the Aztec nation lay
A PROSTATE land, robed in a dismal gloom,
With broken walls defaced in lmpious Tray
And cfumbling: not living bloom
Was left to shed its fragrant, fresh perfume
Abroad; and every heart was in dismay,
And every home bloody, reezing tomb.
And all was wrought in one swift fatal day!
The night stole on; the wrathful earthquake
came
And left the Aztec's grandeur but a name!
And what are they who wrought our wreck
complete?
What have they gained while countless
years have fed?
They have no soil whereon to set their feet,
No rock wherein to lay an inglorious headI
But through the land they beg their meager
And crouch in huts while wintry tempests
beat;
Their beastly brains with murderous dreams
are fed,
And hopes of war burn as the seasons fleet !
These plains would be, withal the earthquake
shock,
Fair fields to see-not heated sand and rock! :.
''And this drear spot wherein 1 sit and weep
Woul1 throb with life; these barren miles Of
sand
Would smile with verdure; and this sun
would creep
Near to the bosom of fruitful land;
But for the havoc spread by murderous
hand
My race to-day would not be wrapt in Sleep
But rather boast OF navies on the strand
OF yon south sea; and progress broad and
deep!
A myriad host would live and love and toll
Where drifting sand dunes choke the virgin
soil.''
Sadly it turned, this spirit of yore,
Passed from my sight in the tombS hidden
door,
Never TO raise from the sand of the plain,
Telling its desolate tidings againi
Never to ra e. from its Time-buried tomb
Telling its message of madness and gloOmi
Never to breathe through its noStril of clay
But gone to its rest, while the ages decay!
Gone to its rest in a tomb by the sea-
A tomb that Is sealed for eternity!
-BERTRAM WILSON HUFFMAN.
Union, Or, December 81, 1891.
TuE rprSonal diSoOpo fort oDd tho 1x,o-r,-