The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-10
THE JOURNALS POETS.


young man stood on the border land
OF the OF shifting sands and wind,
Hailed the desert with reckoning hand
And it's problems scanned with eager mind
But-scorner of life and friend OF death
The desert stood. faithless. vast and lone;
Men shrank and shriyeIed in her hot breath
And Thirst was lord OF her burning zone
She laughed at the slow-paeed caravans.
The awkward camels and precious freight,
Their Arab masters, with futile plans
For defying Nature and conc ring fate.
IT am the desert,'' she cried. land
Am mistress of sand and sun and wind;
The bold invader who dares deny
Ny power and prestige-weak. foolish blind
Falls on my pitfless breast to sleep
And wakes no more, for the rowing sands
Sweep down and bury him fathoms deep
With all the work OF his puny hands.
yet. am the desert of many moods;
doom the hundreds and save the scores.
Oft bearing caravans, Arabs, gooss.
Safe TO the opulent merchants doors.
MY children coax me; serve their greed;
They glory in me. and in them:
But thou. fair STRIPPING. warn thee. speed
Back to the green world beyond my hem!'
But gave no answer to threat or taunt,
For he knew the power OF her deadly scath
And burst not tempt IL with idle vaunt.
A vantage ground on the weary way
To the Deserts heart the young man sought
And found, through patience. then. day by day.
With steadfast faith. at his purpose wrought
Deep into the sands. through clay and shale.
His engines drove the exploring drill;
The Deserts furnace. the sandstorms hail. -
Were vain to conquer his cong ring will.
The engines throbbed and the drill went down.
The laden camels went snarling by;
Each turbaned rider. with nod and frown.
Guessed and pondered and marveled why.
The engines pulsed and the drill sank deep
Into the earths crust, hard and cold,
Till down where the primal fossils sleep
1t plunged In a fountain clear and cold.
The steam pumps throbbed and the waters flowed
Till the floods appeased the thirsty sand
And the great sheiks. from the desert road.
Praised AllafTs name, with upiifted hands.
The moss filmed over the moistened stone.
And palms upsprouted and grasses grew,
verdure leaped into the deserts zone
And joy born the sands anew.
Then came more engines and drills and wells.
And further ana furtner the waters SPED
Into the desert with miracles
OF bloom and fruitage. and overhead
The green boughs sheltered rejoicing birds
And cast cool shadows where children strayed:
Men builded homes, reared locks and herds
Where Mirage once her sorceries played.
The strong, gray man-no STRIPPING now
Smiles on the accomplished work and saith.
axx-ipn 10 xxyali hut
Still wide renalneth the realm OF death,
Its torturins thirst. its murd' rous sands,
Its red simoons and its parching heat!
The desert still laughs my toil-worn hands;
But to gain is victry. to lose defeat
''The desert has lost. the gain Is mans.
And man shall add 10 what man has done,
With saner efforts and wiser plans,
TIL the blight be conquered. the blessing won
Well deserts and dearths and hnty crusts
In this strange world but common things.
Hard knocks are needed and skillful thrusts
To break them up and release the springs
OF living waters that wait below
To revive waste sand and withered heart;
To Danish the deserts reign of woe.
And raptures OF life and love impart.
So the man must srnlte the deserts face
And battle with her, one to ten:
But God hath given him dover Of grace,
And he shall conquer through love Of men.
Ben S. Parker.