Part 15 (1/2)

Or the hand of--something I did not dare Look round to see in that obscene place?

Where the boughs, with leaves a-devil's-dance, And the thorn-tree bush, where the wind made moan, Had more than a strange significance Of life and of evil not their own.

III.

Where was I last Friday night?-- Within the forest of dark dreams Seeing the mists rise left and right, Like the leathery fog that heaves and steams From the rolling horror of h.e.l.l's red streams.

While the wind, that tossed in the tattered tree, And danced alone with the last mad leaf ...

Or was it the wind?... kept whispering me-- ”Now bury it here with its own black grief, And its eyes of fire you can not brave!”-- And in the darkness I seemed to see My own self digging my soul a grave.

LYNCHERS.

At the moon's down-going, let it be On the quarry bill with its one gnarled tree....

The red-rock road of the underbrush, Where the woman came through the summer hush.

The sumach high, and the elder thick, Where we found the stone and the ragged stick.

The trampled road of the thicket, full Of foot-prints down to the quarry pool.

The rocks that ooze with the hue of lead, Where we found her lying stark and dead.

The scraggy wood; the negro hut, With its doors and windows locked and shut.

A secret signal; a foot's rough tramp; A knock at the door; a lifted lamp.

An oath; a scuffle; a ring of masks; A voice that answers a voice that asks.

A group of shadows; the moon's red fleck; A running noose and a man's bared neck.

A word, a curse, and a shape that swings; The lonely night and a bat's black wings....

At the moon's down-going, let it be On the quarry hill with its one gnarled tree.

KU KLUX.

We have sent him seeds of the melon's core, And nailed a warning upon his door; By the Ku Klux laws we can do no more.

Down in the hollow, 'mid crib and stack, The roof of his low-porched house looms black; Not a line of light at the doorsill's crack.

Yet arm and mount! and mask and ride!

The hounds can sense though the fox may hide!

And for a word too much men oft have died.