 | The candle in the cabin |  |
7
RISING WOLF SECTION
9
RISING WOLF
Rising Wolf, Rising Wolf, Rising Wolf, the brave beast,
Looms up past the ranges
And leaps through the roof
Of the star-sky at twilight
And puts to the proof
All the ten dogs in my wolf-hunting heart,
Snarling, defying them there all day long,
And giving the cry that the wolves call a song.
And my dogs bark in circles, but keep well aloof
From the proud Rising Wolf, Rising Wolf, Rising Wolf.
Looms up past the ranges
And leaps through the roof
Of the star-sky at twilight
And puts to the proof
All the ten dogs in my wolf-hunting heart,
Snarling, defying them there all day long,
And giving the cry that the wolves call a song.
And my dogs bark in circles, but keep well aloof
From the proud Rising Wolf, Rising Wolf, Rising Wolf.
Rising Wolf, Rising Wolf, Rising Wolf, the brave beast,
It will take a hundred brave dogs at the least
To hunt down and beat Rising Wolf, the brave beast.
It will take a hundred brave dogs at the least
To hunt down and beat Rising Wolf, the brave beast.
There are ten great dogs in my heart and no more
To hunt and to hound Rising Wolf, the brave beast.
But when will I have the strength of ten men,
And have one hundred brave dogs at the least?
In my heart are ten hounds
As small as small flowers,
When I turn them loose they are great as the hours:
They fill the valleys, they fill the rivers;
They leap to the stars, they leap to the sun;
They stand in a circle and bark at the snarling one.
And they think it is strange and very surprising
They cannot conquer the wolf in his rising.
They bark, but their bark is uncertain surmising;
And they beat back and whine, consulting, advising,
Back there on the prairie amazed at his rising,
And wonder what has delayed their great feast
On black Rising Wolf, Rising Wolf, the brave beast.
To hunt and to hound Rising Wolf, the brave beast.
But when will I have the strength of ten men,
And have one hundred brave dogs at the least?
In my heart are ten hounds
As small as small flowers,
10
They fill the valleys, they fill the rivers;
They leap to the stars, they leap to the sun;
They stand in a circle and bark at the snarling one.
And they think it is strange and very surprising
They cannot conquer the wolf in his rising.
They bark, but their bark is uncertain surmising;
And they beat back and whine, consulting, advising,
Back there on the prairie amazed at his rising,
And wonder what has delayed their great feast
On black Rising Wolf, Rising Wolf, the brave beast.
Where are nine strong men to go with me now
That the hundred strong dogs in our hearts may rush down
From the clouds and the sun and the stars on the crown
Of black Rising Wolf, Rising Wolf, the brave beast,
And beat the beast down,
Till we chain him, enslave him, and make him our own,
This river and snowstorm and stone,
This mountain unconquered, whose hair, bone, and blood,
Are those of the deeps in their primeval flood,
Are those of the winds to the west of the sky,
Are those of the highest Red Warriors on high?
That the hundred strong dogs in our hearts may rush down
From the clouds and the sun and the stars on the crown
Of black Rising Wolf, Rising Wolf, the brave beast,
And beat the beast down,
Till we chain him, enslave him, and make him our own,
This river and snowstorm and stone,
This mountain unconquered, whose hair, bone, and blood,
Are those of the deeps in their primeval flood,
Are those of the winds to the west of the sky,
Are those of the highest Red Warriors on high?
12
THE HUNTING DOGS
The ten hunting dogs in my heartHave captured forty-six years
In a wood that is dewy with tears.
The ten hunting dogs in my heart
Have captured, as hunting dogs should,
That is, without wounding at all,
All the wild birds that call
In my rustic cage in my house in the wood.
The ten hunting dogs in my heart
Have helped tame the chipmunks and small baby bears,
They drive mountain lions back, back, to their lairs.
They help me to feed on elk meat,
And my heart must beat to their rustling feet.
And these are their names:
America, Beauty, Song,
Religion, Love of Lone Games,
The Indian, the Lover, the Brother, the Proud One,
The Chief No Man Tames.
13
CONCERNING HIS INSIGNIA
To Stephen Graham
Brother, who went a-climbing across Asia,
Tramping with big boots through the mysterious places,
The wide world is your parish,
And new pathways
Beckon you farther through still further races.
We will be meeting soon on many boundaries:
We crossed the Canadian Border for a sign.
We will cross and claim a thousand oceans,
And each side will be yours and each side mine.
Tramping with big boots through the mysterious places,
The wide world is your parish,
And new pathways
Beckon you farther through still further races.
We will be meeting soon on many boundaries:
We crossed the Canadian Border for a sign.
We will cross and claim a thousand oceans,
And each side will be yours and each side mine.
Restless of heart! Always overshining
Every path you found, the Cross gave light.
There in that light you found your hope and wisdom,
Tramping on, still fevered, through the night.
You will tell world's-end of the other world's-end;
You will tell borders where far borders are;
You will yet reconcile such separate races—
You will look down, a conqueror, from your star.
Every path you found, the Cross gave light.
There in that light you found your hope and wisdom,
Tramping on, still fevered, through the night.
You will tell world's-end of the other world's-end;
You will tell borders where far borders are;
You will yet reconcile such separate races—
You will look down, a conqueror, from your star.
14
WORLD-MAPS
To Stephen Graham
I would draw rich maps of the whole worldAnd every classic nation of the past—
The spread of each religion, age by age,
The plot of each soul-empire and the cast:
The states that rose and fell after Christ's death,
The nations that turned flowers in Buddha's breath,
The states Prophet Mohammed made too brave,
The states Osiris wakened from the grave.
15
THE HOUSE OF BOONE
The smoke from the houseOf Daniel Boone,
More than a century ago,
Turned to a Kansas sunflower
In the sky,
Then to a vision
Of the Colorado mountains,
Then to the Northwestern mountains,
Row on row—
Then to the
California mountains,
With their cloudy snow.
16
THE RANGER'S CABIN
The Ranger's cabin keeps its light all night,Just as the lighthouse on the terrible shore.
If you are lost, upon the high passes,
Fight toward the light, then wander never more.
THE SNOW BY RISING WOLF PEAK
By Rising Wolf PeakThere's a canyon of snow,
Heart-shaped,
Fair, and white.
It turns to blood-red
If you climb there
And stare,
Through
The long night.
18
THE CHILD-HEART IN THE MOUNTAINS
On Rising Wolf PeakIs a canyon of snow
Heart-shaped and
Strange and wild.
The pilgrim
Who climbs
To the canyon of snow
Returns
With the heart of a child.
THE BRIDE'S BOUQUETS
By Rising WolfWe saw the bride's bouquets
Tied to the New Moon.
20
BONNETS
By Rising WolfBonnets for Country girls
Are found in
Flowery swirls.
THE LADY-SLIPPERS
By Rising WolfThe lady-slippers
Grow on a green ladder
In a pretty row.
22
THE PENNANT
Where the forest-fires had blackenedOld Rising Wolf with shame
After
The first healing storm
The pennant
Of the green-grass soldiers
Came.
“CŒUR D'ALENE”
There bloomsIn the Lodge-Pole forest lane
The flower called
“The pointed heart”
Or, sometimes
“Cœur d' Alene.”
| The candle in the cabin | |