University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

Page 9 text:

v iv QI pxas THIS is no strippling, sirs, no yoi el youth, This bronze-limbed Hercules of giant girth ; This is the stoutest-thewed, the staunchest-souled In all the brawny brotherhood of States! TIME was, perchance, when, indolent, outstretched, Sprawled like a lazy urchin at his ease. He dozed and dreamed the drowsy hours away Beside the shallows of some singing stream. Or else, upblinking at a Southern sun. Watched while a snowy squadrony of cloud Waged mimic Trafalgars on skyey seas. His was the fragrance of the fallow field, The burst of bird-song and the ample air, Purple expanses of primeval pine. And undulant wide reaches of the plain. But, with the lapse of adolescent years, Through his slow pulses swept a sudden thrill, The quick, keen impulse of an ichor new That .-stirred his slumbrous soul to stinging life; And swift off-flinging from his lithesome limbs Inaction ' s shackles and the gyves of ease, Up to the stalwart stature of a man Leaped he, erect, and Godlike in his mien. And looking worldward with a questing eye Saw where his kindred commonwealths had swept Far past him on the stretching slopes until Dim showed their outlines on the upper steeps! THRILLED by the thunders of their Titan tread, Stung with a sense of sluggish slothfulness, Waked to the wanton wastefulness of years, He turned his back to ease and dull content And, upward faring, set his steadfast step

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I ; n.ms. ' irtui; s c UHents •ige an i iinl nf).wn 1 .if All;il: ' s inie-IYt: lii .lli«j Ttuiplc ' s fr ' ■ Stalk thu As ' P While the Vr-ssels. Siraiicc-ly wroiiglil, in nuiiibur i- w. Golcli-ii (jlwim the mystic; letters. WoiKirous words the Vessels ht-ar. Sadly We t the soulful mt)si : Ag.fs. ' iieither see lior hear: n -; V » Night ' s Jenshroi cfing Darl ness, Af r;,,iis-old the ' .Temple stamps; ■ ■ ' ' lah waits andi long is patient: cMii ' iiK and sure ape Allah ' s hands. ' ■ Swiftly Dawn ' s I eft Hand apiirodches, -I-ifehts,the East iiv trembliiiK shecn.v Glow- the windows of the Temple, J L Hushed- the bells of vespertine, O - fForth from Truth ' s abKndoned U Kbisters. C- :rmly conscious df his miaht. Unfffie e ltious, unassuming, I j« Swef-vink nor to left nor rigbt. TSteps a mcifn of princely bearing, Ei-in lJ both in form and rtien; S?e s the Temple set liefore him- - TemplQ by the Ages seen. i Staff in hand, or crown, he bears not, Naught about him Is uncouth! Krmined i?obe, or stole,, he wears iiot: Sceiit. i-ed he with sword of TRUTH. Fearless © ' or the Temple ' s tiling, Forward on his mission bent, . Steps the, ' I ' rince; and soon he reaches Aisles with incense redolent — Sacred aisles, where saints and sages. Richland poor, hava often trod. Famed afar thi-oughouti the Ages, Whci-e men worshiV) Wealth — and God! Unabasljed. with footsteps certain. Musing not on l hantom Fame, Wallis the Prince in simple grandeur; Reads the golden-glinted name On each parti-colored i)annel, On each statue ' s marble base. On the windows of the Temple, On each jeweled holy-vase: Names of kings, the noted rulers, Kach commissioned Allah ' s thane — Gifts of all the hurled Ages, licautiful — but all inane! Past the Altar ' s burning incense. Past the Temple ' s Mercy Seat. mr HROnOH the mystic sable Sanctum || (Crime ' s long secret safe retreat), V Walks the Prince with flaming ardor. Sword of Truth within his hand. Templed still in myriad numbers Allali ' s mystic Vessels stand. Gazing at these Pots majestic (Austere Ages viewed them longi. Sees the Prince the graven symbols. Hears the inner whispered song. Look! upon those somber Vessels, Stately in these ancient halls. Looms each burnished golden letter — Hark! what music now enthralls! Leap the letters into meaning As the Prince his scepter lifts; Down the Temple ' s ' essel -vistas. Murmurous i)erfumed music drifts. Adoration of the Ages! Meaningless these Pots of gold? =S

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Il v g straight toward the peaks of high emprise, nor b reathed A half-regret for deedless days forsworn ; Nor paused he in his pilgrimage until, High on a proud plateau of aims fulfilled. For a brief breathing-space he stood and swept World-ways with gaze far-reaching in its scope; Saw the dusk pine lands, that were wont to lie Flecked with the saffron sheen of summer suns And flinging lures of balsam to the breeze. Freighting the creaking cars and groaning ships With the upyielding of an eon ' s growth ; Looked on the prairies, girt with golden sheaves. Where full-flanked cattle stalked in sleek content; Saw the old haunts, which erst were overgrown With brier and bramble, and where roamed at will All countless crawling creatures of the wild. Ribboned with streets of stretching steel that led To city steeples signalling the skies; Heard the low croon of commerce and the hum Of whirring engines and the lisp of looms. Panting of pistons and the strenuous stir Of keels, outveering from the harborsides !