Page images
PDF
EPUB

Interdependence absolute, foreseen, ordained, decreed, To work, Ye'll note, at any tilt an' every rate o'

speed.

Fra' skylight-lift to furnace-bars, backed, bolted, braced an' stayed,

An' singin' like the Mornin' Stars for joy that they are made;

While, out o' touch o' vanity, the sweatin' thrustblock says:

"Not unto us the praise, or man-not unto us the praise!"

Now, a' together, hear them lift their lesson-theirs an' mine:

"Law, Orrder, Duty an' Restraint, Obedience, Discipline!"

Mill, forge an' try-pit taught them that when roarin' they arose,

An' whiles I wonder if a soul was gied them wi' the blows.

Oh for a man to weld it then, in one trip-hammer strain,

Till even first-class passengers could tell the meanin' plain!

But no one cares except mysel' that serve an' understand

My seven thousand horse-power here. Eh, Lord!
They're grand-they're grand!

Uplift am I? When first in store the new-made
beasties stood,

Were Ye cast down that breathed the Word declarin'

all things good?

Not so! O' that warld-liftin' joy no after-fall could

vex,

Ye've left a glimmer still to cheer the Man-the
Arrtifex!

That holds, in spite o' knock and scale, o' friction,
waste an' slip,

An' by that light-now, mark my word-we'll build the Perfect Ship.

I'll never last to judge her lines or take her curvenot I.

But I ha' lived an' I ha' worked. 'Be thanks to Thee, Most High!

An' I ha' done what I ha' done-judge Thou if ill or well

Always Thy Grace preventin' me. . . .

Losh! Yon's the "Stand by" bell. Pilot so soon? His flare it is. The mornin'-watch is

set.

Well, God be thanked, as I was sayin', I'm no Pela

gian yet.

Now I'll tak' on.

'Morrn, Ferguson. Man, have ye ever thought What your good leddy costs in coal? . . I'll burn'em down to port.

[ocr errors]

THE MIRACLES

I SENT a message to my dear

A thousand leagues and more to HerThe dumb sea-levels thrilled to hear, And Lost Atlantis bore to Her.

Behind my message hard I came,

And nigh had found a grave for me; But that I launched of steel and flame Did war against the wave for me.

Uprose the deep, by gale on gale,
To bid me change my mind again-
He broke his teeth along my rail,
And, roaring, swung behind again.

I stayed the sun at noon to tell
My way across the waste of it;

I read the storm before it fell

And made the better haste of it.

Afar, I hailed the land at night

The towers I built had heard of me And, ere my rocket reached its height, Had flashed my Love the word of me.

Earth sold her chosen men of strength
(They lived and strove and died for me)
To drive my road a nation's length,
And toss the miles aside for me.

I snatched their toil to serve my needs—
Too slow their fleetest flew for me-
I tired twenty smoking steeds,

And bade them bait a new for me.

I sent the lightnings forth to see
Where hour by hour She waited me.
Among ten million one was She,
And surely all men hated me!

Dawn ran to meet me at my goal-
Ah, day no tongue shall tell again!
And little folk of little soul

Rose up to buy and sell again!

THE NATIVE-BORN

We've drunk to the Queen-God bless her!-
We've drunk to our mothers' land;
We've drunk to our English brother
(But he does not understand);
We've drunk to the wide creation,

And the Cross swings low for the morn;

Last toast, and of obligation,

A health to the Native-born!

They change their skies above them,
But not their hearts that roam !
We learned from our wistful mothers
To call old England "home";

We read of the English skylark,

Of the spring in the English lanes, But we screamed with the painted lories As we rode on the dusty plains!

They passed with their old-world legends

Their tales of wrong and dearth—

Our fathers held by purchase,

But we by the right of birth;

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »