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BURY THEM
by Brownell, Henry Howard [1820-1872]

Bury the Dragon's Teeth!
Bury them deep and dark!
The incisors swart and stark,
The molars heavy and dark—
And the one white Fang underneath
!
Bury the Hope Forlorn!
Never shudder to fling,
With its fellows dusky and worn,
The strong and beautiful thing
(Pallid ivory and pearl!)
Into the horrible Pit—
Hurry it in, and hurl
All the rest over it!
Trample them, clod by clod,
Stamp them in dust amain!
The cuspids, cruent and red,
That the Monster, Freedom, shed
On the sacred, strong Slave-Sod—
They never shall rise again!
Never?—what hideous growth
Is sprouting through clod and clay?
What Terror starts to the day?
A crop of steel, on our oath!
How the burnished stamens glance!—
[509]
Spike, and anther, and blade,
How they burst from the bloody shade,
And spindle to spear and lance!
There are tassels of blood-red Maize—
How the horrible Harvest grows!
'Tis sabres that glint and daze—
'Tis bayonets all ablaze
Uprearing in dreadful rows!
For one that we buried there,
A thousand are come to air!
Ever, by door-stone and hearth,
They break from the angry earth—
And out of the crimson sand,
Where the cold white Fang was laid,
Rises a terrible Shade,
The Wraith of a sleepless Brand!
And our hearts wax strange and chill,
With an ominous shudder and thrill,
Even here, on the strong Slave-Sod,
Lest, haply, we be found
(Ah, dread no brave hath drowned!)
Fighting against Great God.
Henry Howard Brownell.

Source: Project Gutenberg

Source: Project Gutenberg