The record-union., 1897-10-17
Erst where were meadows sweet un-


ana TO thee, with each rising sun,
Some newer honor takes its way;
some greater glory thou hast won
Mid wisest worlds, more wise than they
Or poet, with melodious lip
Giant in art or craftsmanship
Yet once thou layest here forlorn
And called the world and bade it come;
The nomad winds laughed by in scorn
All dumb And dumb didst thou
with tears,
Hold thy lone tenantry of years
Vague rumors wandered. now and then,
Borne by the wind like winged seeds.
To thy lone heart-wild tales of men
Who lived by fierce, barbaric deeds,
And mong them came a tale to thee
Of Kahn, the Lord of Tartaryl
Thine not to know its very truth,
Thine but a vague. uneasy shade;
Inc clash OF arms, the deeds of ruth,
That mark wars crimson cavalcade.
Then cries whose f1erceness signs the
hour
Another kingston speeds to flower!
Then that great moaning restless slave.
Who humbly washed thy fair, white
feet,
Told thee one day how to its grave
He had sent down a noble fleet;
A fleet equipped for some war plan
he shattered 1T around Japan!
But not, not ALL Some ships he drove
Where ne'er before such keels had
sped;
And unknown stars shone overhead,
10 where the gold cleaned in the sand
Unto land like thy fair landi
o, how thy heart throbbed at this tale
And how thy longing leaped anew.
AnG how thou searched for hull or sail,
The changeless meadows of the blue.
Searched till thine eyes refused to see,
linen Went in lonely n1iGarUf
But after long and bitter years
Thou ceased to weep, did half forget,
FOR naught did answer to thy tears
And hopes last star, unlighted set.
And then-thy heart stood stilll-one day
Strange beings to thy bowers did stray
Whence came they? BY what forceful
wind
Were they detached from what great
tree?
What did they seek. what leave behind.
And whence their beings mystery?
ASK not of themi The tales they told
But dusk's dim figures did unfold
Dim figures. Yet thou half did guess
The truth-thy nursing fancy set
The Incaian throne, and conquerless,
Plumed Montezuma's coronet.
Then by smoky, high-held torch
Saw wreck and Spains adventurers
march!
With JOY and fear, for well knewest
thou
That some calm eve. or some sweet morn.
Would see the wide-wnged galleons
Thy gardened waters; and record
The fiutt ring flag, tn amounting sword
And then, oh Empressl dost recall
How then-at lastl-thy eyes discerned
Against the nights descending pail,
The sail of Spain that to thee turned,
And in beauteous bay was furled
AS stars burst Ger the Orient world?
Cabrillo! For twas he that came
To seek, to conquer and to take;
Who heedful of his masters fame
Braved death for his ambitions sake.
And winning much yet gave it all
To Spain, forgetting Portugal!
Dost thou remember him? And too,
The Prince of Dreams, the Knight of
Blood,
Cortez the chief adventurer, who
Himself once sought thy golden flood
And Gt was ere Cabrillo sailed
Stirred by La Paz, he sought and-failed,
And England's son. where fate unkind
Yet quite consistent by mistake
Denied high fame, made strangely blind
Was it because his name was Drake?
And carried by that bay of fame
That lay hid till Portala came.
Portala, with his priests and slaves.
Who, wearied by their journey long,
Were joyed thus to see the waves,
And seeing, knelt in prayer and song.
And singing, saw with visioned eyes
The triumphs of their dreams arise.
All. old Dolores! Mute and gray
And pilfered of thy golden tongue
What high ambition marked the day
OF him, who reared thy walls and hung
Thy mystic bells; whose trust sublime
Hath perfumed all the aisles of time!
Remembered Empress? That kind face
That came as thou so softly stirred
Dost thou recall the sweetness, grace
OF him who spake redemption :; word?
Who Christs cross beariIg love con-
fesSed
And crossed the storm tides foaming
crest.
To plant within the hearts of them
Who, child-like, worshipped at the sea
Qdoltrous faithD the magic stem
Cut from the Old Worlds Christian
The tree that bore the fatefuI flower
Destined, to haste that tragic hour
When, greedy with the lust of lands.
And cruel with his quenchless greed,
The .Gringo should take from their
Their gifts; nor pausing once to heed
Their slow demur, usurp their throne
And bend their proud wills to his own.
That deed, and those that followed fast
Upon it, as blame follows blame
That deed shall know no screening past
But faunt eternally its shame
Oh progressi how canSt thou be proud,
Whose robe hath served a nation s
shroud?
And Empress, dost thou still recall
How then thy powr, thy pride, aWoke
To harken to that great football
Which echoed like a thunder-stroke?
The tread of one whose name doth shine
Who marshaled all the world in line?
That mani All Empress, until he
Cried out that thou vert fortune s
queen,
The world that thou so wished to see
Might still have been unknown. unseen.
And years might have gone down e'er
fame
Were more than dreams about thy name,
Rememberst thou? And how thou then
Didst rise and mock the suns bright
beam;
The light of all the world to men.
Their love, their lure, their golden
dream.
Their Mecca, hind the mounts of snow
And dost thou know why it was SO?
r,y,1v hills of cold If was that cvalraf