Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-05-12
THE SECTIONS SUPPER

THE SECTIONS SUPPER
The PlaEne. bis black hand nfts.i,
Was floating down the Rhine,
His bark Il :, ft-lined coffin
uDn zach side grew the vine):
He srruck Ib, miller a. his wheel.
The w"oiusn by his tree;
Before him rGsp the prayer and hymn,
Eehiud. the Dirise.
He fonrd them spinning wedding robes,
He lell them digging graves:
High over faces pale and wrunS
The earth heaped up its waves.
He sirIck the baron at his gate.
'l'r urasant At the plow.
: , f-"n his sable banner SHOOK
Darkness on every brow.
A this time in belfry-room
Five sections drained the wine,
Red from the toll that brought the fee
And made their old eyes shine.
Their seats were cedar coffin plankA
All velvet-trmmed and soft;
The chalice-cups by them de6led,
Were flled and emptied oft
They drank "a long reign to KIM
flHEue
"A wet year and a foul!"
As screaming through the open loops
Flew in and out the owl.
Their shirts were made of dead men,
vests
dead men are meek and dumb,
And each one wore dead knights rinS
Upon his Ihieyish thumb.
Down frcm the boarded floor above
The heavy bell-rope swings,
Ii coils around the bowls and TASKS.
The cups and drinking things.
The crasset throws Il gloom Of black
Upon the red-rled ioor-
Three faces dark-on two the lights
Their golden lustres pour.
r. a:ie the table sink the steps
That lead into a vault
A treasure house no thieves but five
Pared ever yet assault
And through the darkness to the lef,
Winds up the belfry stair
Up to the old bel chamber
Up TO the cooler air.
The wall was hung with coffin-plates,
The dates rubbed duly out
dead men are very dull and slow
They toast The Doctors of Cologne.
VINO keep the church spades bright4
Such tOasis as these such feast as that,
Were tit for such night.
Far. far above among the bells
The wind blew devil fierce.
The slcet upon the baggar fell,
And stabbed him carte and tierce.
There was Il pOther in the roofs,
And such clash of tiles.
That dying creatures sObs and groans
We're heard around for miles.
They drink to Peter and to FauiI'
And "All men underground
Then with laugh. and wink. and nudge.
The passing they sound,
They drink to the tree that gives the
plank,
Aud the tree that guards the dead
The coal-bIaci tree with the blood dros
frui:,
So poisonous. soft and red
Is God. then. sleeping? No! See there,
How one tears at his throat.
And barring neck and shoulder,
BIDS a.. his fellows note
\ P,a=ue-~pGt. blue and swollen,
Shurs gLaSily on the skin.
And on bis knees he prays 10 Christ
To yet forgive his sin.
Dead, And the eldest, tolling
The rope that Ger them hung,
Called, with curse, Lads. fill your cups
Let another song be sunG.'
Then ~ees-his white face sickenS
And as he staggers down,
Another drags at the heavy bell
Stamped with the cross and crown.
So every time a topper fell
Another rose to toll.
And all the rest screamed ont dirge
For the sinners passing soul.
And round they stirred the gallon jug,
And high thcy flung the cup;
With half Il song and half Il prayer
They tossed it, Glling up.
Now but one left, and he, though faint
Siaggers towards the rope,
And tnlls-Grst draining cup and bowl.
Half dead. without a hope
Tolls, I'LL the old tower rocks again
Tolls. with hand of lead
Then falls upon the wine-drenched fiooi
pom his felows-deadl
Walter Thornbury, in San Francisco
Argouaut.