 | Coffin's Poems with Ajax' Ordeals |  |
180
Ajax' Dream.
Ajax of the Southland
Was walking out one day,
Enraptured did his spirit seem,
Inspired by some poetic theme,
Or heavenly array.
Was walking out one day,
Enraptured did his spirit seem,
Inspired by some poetic theme,
Or heavenly array.
His gaze was running forward,
When sudden toward the sky,
A buzzard rose upon his wings,
From off a dark and ghastly thing
Which startled Ajax' eyes.
When sudden toward the sky,
A buzzard rose upon his wings,
From off a dark and ghastly thing
Which startled Ajax' eyes.
A hideous corpse he noticed,
He shudders, standing there—
His spirit feels a sharp recoil,
From that which taints the air and soil
From lack of burial care.
He shudders, standing there—
His spirit feels a sharp recoil,
From that which taints the air and soil
From lack of burial care.
The lynchers had been there
And killed a Negro man;
They would not let his kindred come,
Nor even friends his corpse entomb,
But left it on the sand.
And killed a Negro man;
They would not let his kindred come,
Nor even friends his corpse entomb,
But left it on the sand.
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He almost turns to leave it—
But stops and turns again,
That carcass there was once the home
Of some sad soul now doomed to roam
Perhaps in endless pain.
But stops and turns again,
That carcass there was once the home
Of some sad soul now doomed to roam
Perhaps in endless pain.
And so this trembling Ajax
The duty does not shirk,
But with his unaccustomed hands
Piles on the corpse the dirt and sand,
And it was tedious work.
The duty does not shirk,
But with his unaccustomed hands
Piles on the corpse the dirt and sand,
And it was tedious work.
When Ajax' work was o'er
He said with tearful eyes,
“This country, call'd the ‘land of free,’
Has no protection here for me,
But whither shall we fly?”
He said with tearful eyes,
“This country, call'd the ‘land of free,’
Has no protection here for me,
But whither shall we fly?”
He thought of Afric's jungles,
Where his ancestors roamed,
He thought of all the foreign lands,
Where he thought man could be a man
And have protected homes.
Where his ancestors roamed,
He thought of all the foreign lands,
Where he thought man could be a man
And have protected homes.
A ship was there in waiting,
Her prows turned toward the sea.
So Ajax said, at break of day,
I'll take this ship and sail away
In search of liberty.
Her prows turned toward the sea.
So Ajax said, at break of day,
I'll take this ship and sail away
In search of liberty.
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He wended his way homeward
His mind was all afright,
He made a hasty trip to bed,
And tried to doze away the dead,
He passed a restless night.
His mind was all afright,
He made a hasty trip to bed,
And tried to doze away the dead,
He passed a restless night.
But while he slept a spirit,
Before him seemed to stand—
The soul whose body on the beach
He covered from the buzzard's reach,
Who spoke with warning hand.
Before him seemed to stand—
The soul whose body on the beach
He covered from the buzzard's reach,
Who spoke with warning hand.
“Ajax,” said the spirit,
“Listen to a friend's command!
Thou hast in mind to sail the sea
In search of free-born liberty,
This is thy native land!”
“Listen to a friend's command!
Thou hast in mind to sail the sea
In search of free-born liberty,
This is thy native land!”
So when Ajax awoke—
He formed a resolution,
He said this is my native land,
And if I make myself a man,
There'll be a revolution.
He formed a resolution,
He said this is my native land,
And if I make myself a man,
There'll be a revolution.
And then he closed by saying:
“I think I know the sequel,
I'll patronize my fellow man,
And lend him all the aid I can,
And thus build up my people.”
“I think I know the sequel,
I'll patronize my fellow man,
And lend him all the aid I can,
And thus build up my people.”
| Coffin's Poems with Ajax' Ordeals | |