| Show grave in the desert A desert lover at the grave krave I 1 stand the slow wind bringing to my heated cheeks the silent language which the desert speaks to one who hears it and can under stand unknown he lies beneath the beaten mound A little heap of long forgotten clay boat lost in the vastness stretching tar far away aminy A tiny mote in the sand ocean drowned bhear I 1 hear a cry come walling through the night A soft foot pattering 0 er the sleeper s head where el coyote prowls above the dead and the night raven trembles in its flight was his a I 1 te fe filled with ambition ambitions s dreams dreams such as we who live and gle on see in the night to lose them with the dawn when p Q er our eyes the scorching sun light 7 9 or good or bad did hate from envy drawn sweep through his heart or love of fellow men mena the earth received and wrapped him on once ce again 1 in her dark mantle of oblivion 4 no question there of circumstance or creed beneath that mound mankind commin glea glee low its common dust from which may spring and grow A spotless I 1 ly or a noisome weed poor senseless thing once to his joy ous eye the whole world seemed a playground for his feet he felt the good life in bis his pulses beat nor dreamed perhaps that he should ever die this Is the e d the fever of unrest which drove him forth upon the a id plain burned itself out and I 1 ke a drop of rain he sank away into the desert a breast man lifts his voice within the mundane strife A little while then lower run the sands A little lower and his weary hands drop once tor for aye the tangled kein skein ot of life soon 0 er his breast the cactus thorns will grow the swaying cross be crumpling cru crumbling meling into dust old time will touch the desert with red rust across 0 as the grave sand billows creep and flow he ile will be gone each vestige swept away of what once was a man the autumn rains will tearful weep across the gloomy plains A thousand years until the judgment day who then shall live to speak the sleep er s name who shall recall the deeds his hand performed 9 not e en a heart his kindly words have warmed or some breast swelling with a generous shame swift grim old time inexorably then shall sweep the grave from memory and sight E en sw swifter after still the hopes of those who write their names upon the changing hearts of men yet he has lived his toot foot has pressed the land his eye has lingered on the far off hills time may go on but something stays and thrills the eerie twilight 0 er et the wastes of sand aye man may die his very name be gone yet while he lived he made some mark some sign which shall endure mysterious a line A thread which sings when nature s bow Is drawn lowell 0 reese in san francisco bul letin |
