PILGRIMS OF THE PLAINS.
By Joaquin Miller.
A tale half told and hardly understood ;
The talk of bearded men that chanced to meet,
That lean'd on long quaint rifles in the wood,
That look'd in fellow faces, spoke discreet
And low, as half in doubt and in defeat
Of hope; a tale it was of lands of gold
That lay toward the sun. Wild wing'd and fleet
It spread among the the swift Missouri's bold
Unbridled men, and reach'd to where Ohio roll'd.
Then long chain'd lines of yoked and patient steers;
Then long white trains that pointed to the west ;
Beyond the savage west; the hopes and fears
Of blunt, untutor'd men, who hardly guess'd
Their course; the brave and silent women, dress'd
In homely spun attire, the boys in bands,
The cheery babes that laughed at all and bless'd
The doubting hearts with laughing lifted hands
What exodus for far untraversed lands!
The Plains ! The shouting drivers at the wheel ;
The crash of leather whips ; the crush and roll
Of wheels ; the groan of yokes and grinding steel
And iron chain, and lo ! at last the whole
Vast line, that reached as if to touch the goal,
Began to str.etch and stream away and wind
Toward the west, as if with one control :
Then hope loom'd fair, and home lay far behind ;
Before, the boundless plain, and fiercest of their kind.
At first the way lay green and fresh as seas,
And far away as any reach of wave ;
The sunny streams went by in belt of trees ;
And here and there the tassell'd tawny brave
Swept by on horse, looked back, stretched forth and
A yell of hell, and then did wheel and rein
Awhile and point away, dark-brow'd and grave,
Into the far and dim and distant plain
With signs and prophecies, and then plunged on again.
Some hills at last began to lift and break;
Some streams began to fail of wood and tide,
The somber plain began betime to take
A hue of .weary brown, and wild and wide
ft stretch'd its naked breast on every side.
A babe was heard at last to cry for bread
A mid the deserts; cattle low'd and died,
And dying men went by with broken tread,
And left a long black serpent line of wreck and dead.
