 | The complete poetical works of John Hay |  |
225
NARRATIVE POEMS
BENONI DUNN
I sat on a worm fence talking
With one of the Bear Creek boys,
When all the woods were ringing
With the blue jay's jubilant noise.
Prairie and timber were glorious
In the love of the hot young sun,
But a philosophic gloom possessed
The soul of Benoni Dunn.
With one of the Bear Creek boys,
When all the woods were ringing
With the blue jay's jubilant noise.
Prairie and timber were glorious
In the love of the hot young sun,
But a philosophic gloom possessed
The soul of Benoni Dunn.
“Nothin' in all this 'varsal yerth
Is like what it ort to be,
I've give up tryin' to see the nub—
It's too hefty a job fer me.
The weaker a feller's stummick may be,
The bigger his dinner, you bet,
And the more he don't care a damn for cash,
The richer he's sure to get.
Is like what it ort to be,
I've give up tryin' to see the nub—
It's too hefty a job fer me.
The weaker a feller's stummick may be,
The bigger his dinner, you bet,
And the more he don't care a damn for cash,
The richer he's sure to get.
226
“Thar's old Brads—got a pretty young wife
And the biggest house in Pike—
No chick nor child—says he's sixty-two,
But he's eighty-two more like.
I 'low God thinks it a derned good joke—
The way he tries it on—
To send a plenty of hazel-nuts
To folks with their back teeth gone.
And the biggest house in Pike—
No chick nor child—says he's sixty-two,
But he's eighty-two more like.
I 'low God thinks it a derned good joke—
The way he tries it on—
To send a plenty of hazel-nuts
To folks with their back teeth gone.
“I ort to be in Congress;
I would ef I'd went to school.
Thar's Colonel Scrubb our member
He's jest a nateral fool.
When he come here, Lord! he did n't know
Peach blow from a dogwood blossom,
And the derned galoot owned up to me
That he never seed a 'possum!
I would ef I'd went to school.
Thar's Colonel Scrubb our member
He's jest a nateral fool.
When he come here, Lord! he did n't know
Peach blow from a dogwood blossom,
And the derned galoot owned up to me
That he never seed a 'possum!
“Everything works contráry—
You never knows what to do:
Ef I sow in wheat I'll wish it was corn
Afore the fall is through.
And talk about pleasure—ef I was axed
The thing that most I love,
I'd say it's gingerbread—and that
I git the littlest uv.
You never knows what to do:
Ef I sow in wheat I'll wish it was corn
Afore the fall is through.
227
The thing that most I love,
I'd say it's gingerbread—and that
I git the littlest uv.
“What is the use of livin'
Where everything goes skew-haw,
Where you starve ef you keep the Commandments,
And hang ef you break the law.
I've give up tryin' to see the nub
Uv what we was meant to be;
The more I study, the more I don't know—
It's too hefty a job fer me.”
Where everything goes skew-haw,
Where you starve ef you keep the Commandments,
And hang ef you break the law.
I've give up tryin' to see the nub
Uv what we was meant to be;
The more I study, the more I don't know—
It's too hefty a job fer me.”
And this was the sum of the thinking
Of tall Benoni Dunn,—
While gay in weeds his cornfield laughed
In the light of the kindly sun.
Ruminant thus he maundered,
With a scowl on his tangled brow,
With gaps in his fence, and hate in his heart,
And rust on his idle plough.
Of tall Benoni Dunn,—
While gay in weeds his cornfield laughed
In the light of the kindly sun.
Ruminant thus he maundered,
With a scowl on his tangled brow,
With gaps in his fence, and hate in his heart,
And rust on his idle plough.
228
“AFTER YOU, PILOT”
Dawn gilded—over dunes of sand
That border Mobile Bay—
The fleet, which under Farragut
In expectation lay.
For ere that rising sun should set,
Full many a sailor bold
Should perish, leaving but a name
On history's page of gold.
That border Mobile Bay—
The fleet, which under Farragut
In expectation lay.
For ere that rising sun should set,
Full many a sailor bold
Should perish, leaving but a name
On history's page of gold.
Others have sung and yet shall sing
Of Farragut's renown:
How to the Hartford's maintop lashed
He gained his conqueror's crown.
Let others sing those deeds while we,
In sorrow and in pride,
Tell how one gallant gentleman
With high decorum died.
Of Farragut's renown:
How to the Hartford's maintop lashed
He gained his conqueror's crown.
Let others sing those deeds while we,
In sorrow and in pride,
Tell how one gallant gentleman
With high decorum died.
229
The Admiral came across the bar
With threescore flags in air,
The Gulf's blue mirror never glassed
A scene so sternly fair.
Over his fleet of eighteen ships
His dark eye proudly ran;
And Craven in the monitor
Tecumseh led the van.
With threescore flags in air,
The Gulf's blue mirror never glassed
A scene so sternly fair.
Over his fleet of eighteen ships
His dark eye proudly ran;
And Craven in the monitor
Tecumseh led the van.
Morgan and Gaines shot forth their fires
From either bellowing shore;
With deeper rage the fleet replied—
One thunderous, volleying roar.
But straight ahead bold Craven dashed
Upon the swelling tide,
To seek and smite the Tennessee,
The foeman's hope and pride.
From either bellowing shore;
With deeper rage the fleet replied—
One thunderous, volleying roar.
But straight ahead bold Craven dashed
Upon the swelling tide,
To seek and smite the Tennessee,
The foeman's hope and pride.
A noble quarry! Seeking her,
Most worth his knightly steel,
He recked not of the leaking death
Beneath his gliding keel.
One moment in the conning tower
He thought of loved ones dear—
Then at the black foe's lowering bulk
He bade his pilot steer.
Most worth his knightly steel,
He recked not of the leaking death
Beneath his gliding keel.
230
He thought of loved ones dear—
Then at the black foe's lowering bulk
He bade his pilot steer.
A roar, a shock, a shuddering plunge!
Full well did Craven know
No mortal skill might save his ship
Smit by that dastard blow.
The doom impending shrieked and beat
Its fatal wings so nigh
That only one might pass the stair
And one must pause, and die.
Full well did Craven know
No mortal skill might save his ship
Smit by that dastard blow.
The doom impending shrieked and beat
Its fatal wings so nigh
That only one might pass the stair
And one must pause, and die.
“After you, Pilot,” Craven said.
O words of flawless fame!
Out of that awful moment bloomed
A pure, immortal name.
The pilot passed, the hero stayed;
Within that turret's round
Met glorious death and endless life
And faith by honor crowned.
O words of flawless fame!
Out of that awful moment bloomed
A pure, immortal name.
The pilot passed, the hero stayed;
Within that turret's round
Met glorious death and endless life
And faith by honor crowned.
231
The good ship plunged to ocean's ooze.
Forth from the flood and fire
Our reverence sees that gentle soul
To kindred heaven aspire;
And marks—when Craven stands beneath
God's hero-sheltering dome—
The shade of Philip Sidney rise
And bid him welcome home.
Forth from the flood and fire
Our reverence sees that gentle soul
To kindred heaven aspire;
And marks—when Craven stands beneath
God's hero-sheltering dome—
The shade of Philip Sidney rise
And bid him welcome home.
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