Albert Pike

Who rideth as fleet as a fleet Nabajo?
Whose arm is so strong with the lance and the bow?
His arrow in battle as lightning is swift;
His march is the course of the mountainous drift…

She has sunken again into slavery's tomb,
Like a thunderbolt quenching itself in the sea;
And deeply and darkly engraved is her doom,—
''Her existence is done! Let her never be free!"From the darkness that long eddied round her she rose,…

Where the rocks are gray and the shore is steep,
And the waters below look dark and deep,
Where the rugged pine, in its lonely pride,
Leans gloomily over the murky tide;…

Ay, shout! 'Tis the day of your pride,
Ye despots and tyrants of earth!
Tell your serfs the American name to deride,
And to rattle their fetters in mirth.…

TO HERMES.I.Hear, white-winged Messenger! If thy swift feet
Loiter within Heaven's starry walls, where meet
The Gods, their nectar daintily to sip
At indolent leisure; where thy beardless lip…

The day has passed, love, when I might
Have offered thee this heart of mine,
As one whose yet unclouded light
Was clear and pure, and bright as thine.…

October, brown October, with his slow
And melancholy step, has left the hills
And comes upon the plains. The wild winds blow
Through the thick leaves, with cold and gusty thrills,…

Life is a count of losses,
Every year;
For the weak are heavier crosses,
Every year;…

Young nursling of the Spring and southern mind!
Thou comest like tenderness fostered by neglect,
Or like new hope within a desert mind,
Lonely and beautiful. With new gladness decked,The Earth is waking from her dreamless sleep…

Southrons, conquered, subjugated,
Mourn your country devastated!
Mourn for hapless, hopeless Dixie!
Homes once happy, desolated,…

Southrons, hear your country call you!
Up, lest worse than death befall you!
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Lo! all the beacon-fires are lighted,--…

TO DEMETER.I.Goddess of bounty! at whose spring-time call,
When on the dewey earth thy first tones fall,
And echo in its heart, each young green blade
Springs, wondering, into life; the dull, gray glade…

A SONG, DEDICATED TO SENORITA CAROLINA CASSARD.The Years come, and the Years go,
And the leaves of life keep falling,
Queridita!
And across the sunless river's flow,…

TO APHRODITEI.Oh, thou most lovely and most beautiful!—
Wherever cooingly thy white doves lull
Thy bright eyes to soft slumber; whether on
The truant south-wind floating, or if gone…

THOU glorious mocker of the world! I hear
Thy many voices ringing through the glooms
Of these green solitudes; and all the clear,
Bright joyance of their song enthralls the ear,…

Thou must have altered in the two long years
Which thou hast passed since I beheld thee, Ann!
For then thou wast just budding into life,
And Hopes, with fiery eyes, thy heart did fan,…

Thou art a radiant and imperial star,
Planet! whose silver crest beams bright, afar
Upon the edge of yonder eastern hill,
That, nightlike, seems a third of heaven to fill.…

Let the dreaming astronomer number each star,
That at midnight peeps over its pillow of blue;
A pleasanter study to me is, by far,
The orb that shines over a cheek's rosy hue.…

Cry on! full well I know the voice,
For often it hath called on me,
Stirring my passions with the noise,
As tempests stir the hungering sea.…

And thou too, dearest sister! thou art dead!
The pitiless archer once again has sped
At our small circle an unerring dart.
Thus, one by one, alas! from me depart…

Thy anguished bosom heaves no sigh,
So well it can its woes control;
Yet, gentle angel! how thine eye,
With its calm sadness, racks my soul.I brought thee from thy happy home,…

I.
Now all good fellows, listen, and a story I will tell
Of a mighty clever gentleman who lives extremely well
In the western part of Arkansas, close to the Indian line,…

TO POSEIDON.I.God of the mighty deep! wherever now
The waves beneath thy brazen axles bow;
Whether thy strong, proud steeds, wind-winged and wild,
Trample the storm-vexed waters round them piled,…