 | Joaquin Miller's Poems |  |
198
FINALE
Ah me! I mind me long agone,
Once on a savage snow-bound height
We pigmies pierced a king. Upon
His bare and upreared breast till night
We rained red arrows and we rained
Hot lead. Then up the steep and slow
He passed; yet ever still disdained
To strike, or even look below.
We found him, high above the clouds next morn
And dead, in all his silent, splendid scorn.
Once on a savage snow-bound height
We pigmies pierced a king. Upon
His bare and upreared breast till night
We rained red arrows and we rained
Hot lead. Then up the steep and slow
He passed; yet ever still disdained
To strike, or even look below.
We found him, high above the clouds next morn
And dead, in all his silent, splendid scorn.
So leave me, as the edge of night
Comes on a little time to pass,
Or pray. For steep the stony height
And torn by storm, and bare of grass
Or blossom. And when I lie dead
Oh, do not drag me down once more.
For Jesus' sake let my poor head
Lie pillowed with these stones. My store
Of wealth is these. I earned them. Let me keep
Still on alone, on mine own star-lit steep.
Comes on a little time to pass,
Or pray. For steep the stony height
And torn by storm, and bare of grass
Or blossom. And when I lie dead
Oh, do not drag me down once more.
For Jesus' sake let my poor head
Lie pillowed with these stones. My store
Of wealth is these. I earned them. Let me keep
Still on alone, on mine own star-lit steep.
| Joaquin Miller's Poems | |