University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Collected poems by Vachel Lindsay

revised and illustrated edition

collapse section 
  
  
  
expand section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
collapse section 
expand section1. 
expand section2. 
expand section3. 
expand section4. 
collapse section5. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
WHAT THE MINER IN THE DESERT SAID
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section6. 
expand section7. 
expand section8. 
expand section9. 
expand section10. 
expand section11. 

WHAT THE MINER IN THE DESERT SAID

The moon's a brass-hooped water-keg,
A wondrous water-feast.
If I could climb the ridge and drink
And give drink to my beast;
If I could drain that keg, the flies
Would not be biting so,
My burning feet be spry again,
My mule no longer slow.
And I could rise and dig for ore,
And reach my fatherland,
And not be food for ants and hawks
And perish in the sand.