Part 1 (2/2)

Men reached it only from the sea, By black-built shi+ps, that see the shore suspiciously, Like unnamed monsters of the deep

It was the weirdest land, I ween, That mortal eye has ever seen:

A diy beasts with cloven claw,-- A land that scarce knew prayer or priest, Or law of man, or Nature's law; Where no fixed line drew sharp dispute 'Twixt savage man and silent brute

II

It hath a historyhand to fashi+on on; No chronicler hath mentioned it; No buccaneer set foot upon

'Tis of an outlawed Spanish Don,-- A cruel old That loaded down his deep shi+p's hold

A deep shi+p's hold of plundered gold!

The golden cruise, the golden cross, From many a church of Mexico, From Panama's mad overthrow, From many a ransomed city's loss, From many a follower stanch and bold, And many a foeman stark and cold

He found this wild, lost land He drew His shi+p to shore His ruthless crew, Like Romulus, laid lawless hand On meek brown maidens of the land, And in their bloody forays bore Red firebrands along the shore

III

The redwall of flame; They swept, as sweeps some fateful sea O'er land of sand and level shore That howls in far, fierce agony

The red men swept that deep, dark shore As threshers sweep a threshi+ng-floor

And yet beside the slain Don's door They left his daughter, as they fled: They spared her life, because she bore Their Chieftain's blood and naold They hollowed from the stout shi+p's hold, And bore in ood priest only knew

IV

The course of life is like the sea: Men coo; tides rise and fall; And that is all of history

The tide flows in, flows out to-day,-- And that is all that e at last ca, deep, and terrible; The Christian found the land, and came To take possession in Christ's name

For every white man that had died I think a thousand red men fell,-- A Christian custom; and the land Lay lifeless as some burned-out brand

V

Ere while the slain Don's daughter grew A glorious thing, a flower of spring, A lithe sli race and face,-- A silent mystery that stood An empress in that sea-set wood, Supreht have been old,-- For all old in that shi+p's hold, That drew shi+ps hence, and silent drew Strange Jasons to that steep wood shore, As if to seek that hidden store,-- I never either cared or knew

I say it ely drew Strong e men of sea, To seek this shore of old or her, which of the two?

It matters not; I never knew

But this I know, that as for me, Between that face and the hard fate That kept ed old of land or sea Had never weighed one feather's weight