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 TWO POEMS 
 

AND BRITAIN'S BLEST 
 WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS? 
 
 AND THE 
 
 FATE OF DULLSTROOM 
 
 JOHN W. RODDY 
 
 MCMI 
 
 THE GRAFTON PRESS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 n 
 
s^^^' 
 
 
AND BRITAIN'S BLEST 
 WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS ? 
 
'THE LIBRARY OFJ 
 
 CCMGRESS, I 
 Two Co^.fcs Received I 
 
 OCT. 28 1901 
 
 Copyright entry 
 CLASS il-xXa No. 
 
 I oQpy ^- _ 
 
 Copyright igoo 
 By JOHN W. RODDY 
 
AND BRITAIN'S BLEST WITH 
 RIGHTEOUSNESS ? 
 
 AND Britain's blest with righteousness ? 
 And hers humanity's progress ? 
 And Christianity's her creed? 
 And hers true liberty's rich meed ? 
 And equity her proud conceit ? 
 And hers e'en charity's spirit ? 
 And magnanimity her grace ? 
 And hers sincerity's solace ? 
 And confidence now her concern ? 
 And hers frank honesty's deep yearn ? 
 And mercy dedicates her charm ? 
 And prejudice her only harm ? 
 And constancy her privilege ? 
 And hers conception of faith's pledge ? 
 No: she is curst with ghoulish traits. 
 Her scowl" is but the blight that freights 
 
With mortal scourge, aye, pestilence 
 
 Earth's poor forsaken innocents. 
 
 Her smile is but the smirk that sneers 
 
 At sight of exiles' heart-racked tears. 
 
 Her breath spits famine's putrid slime, 
 
 About e'en nature's teeming clime : 
 
 It blasts also the human heirs ; 
 
 Lest they should dream of life's dread cares ; 
 
 Its fumes soon paralyze fresh zeal ; 
 
 Existence may become too real. 
 
 Her heart is but Hell's mockery ; 
 
 It gloats o'er victims' dying plea. 
 
 And supplicant, or poor or weak, 
 
 Must bear these tortures — and not speak. 
 
 Her fell ambition rides rough-shod, 
 
 Despite the mercy of her God, 
 
 O'er ev'ry people, ev'ry clime — 
 
 And destitute of pity's whim. 
 
 Imperialism, her foul greed. 
 
 Her lust of empire, goads to seeu 
 
 Each trusting nation that forfeits 
 
 Its own rich freedom, and entreats 
 
 True justice from her Parliament : 
 
 'Tis boon unknown to her mind's bent. 
 
As witness Erin. Her distress 
 
 Adown the ages testifies 
 What 'trocious wrongs wait to oppress 
 
 The simple people, most unwise, 
 Who '11 e'er submit to such control. 
 Ah, better death — .or exile's goal ! 
 Is she alone in such despair ? 
 Are hers the ravings bred of air ? 
 The mouthings brewed from discontent ? 
 Is hers malignancy's accent ? 
 What other people can attest 
 Like misery ? Where earth's harvest 
 Well nigh o'erlooks man's agency; 
 Where nature's gardens flourish free, 
 — Rich India — e'en at this hour, 
 There stalks grim famine, plague's twin pow'r 
 And beckoned on, aye, sanctioned e'en 
 
 By shrewd indiff'rence and neglect : 
 And millions starve ; and death's weird grin 
 
 Blasphemes each moment, flaunts effect. 
 That clime where romance doubly blooms, 
 And ages halo mem'ry's fumes, 
 Now mildews man's vitality: 
 It clots his spir'tuality. 
 
There now the germs of foul disease, 
 Taxation's burdensome increase, 
 Are propagating future plagues, 
 While vampire 'ficials strain the dregs. 
 Then pensioners e'en curse the day 
 That destiny dares 'sert her sway. 
 But grandeur's temples, here and there, 
 And courtly ceremonies share 
 Their loyal spectacle, so man 
 Might be as wise — nor once complain. 
 These are the triumphs of the care 
 That Britain, with her lordly air, 
 Now dedicates to peoples' trust. 
 And who dares call this empire's lust ? 
 
 And in abeyance now her greed ? 
 Or torpid from the dearth of need ? 
 Or hers the stupor that prevails 
 When deep distempers lose their spells ? 
 Or in that majesty of worth. 
 When justice garbs each moment's birth, 
 When honor's true impressiveness 
 Indentifies her people's dress .' 
 Ah, vain presumption ! List, what groans, 
 
E'en at this instant — human moans — 
 
 Unnerve the pilgrim who delays 
 
 'Bout Afric's vales ? What hellish bays 
 
 Mock thunder's frenzy, aye, blaspheme 
 
 The faith of nature's own regime ? 
 
 O'er veldt and kopje, ever green, 
 
 Now Britain's war-dogs, nursed on spleen. 
 
 Pursue their trail, all frothing mad. 
 
 Their appetite goads on their raid, 
 
 And craves its fill of human gore : 
 
 Nor recks the murd'rous schemes of war. 
 
 Their eyes are bloodshot with wild rage. 
 
 And blazon with the snake's visage. 
 
 Their tongues protrude with hellish zest ; 
 
 All anxious, too, man's blood to test. 
 
 Their nostrils, too, strain and dilate, 
 
 To scent their victims' habitat. 
 
 Their breaths spit fumes of deadly green. 
 
 So e'en the air transmits their spleen. 
 
 Their very presence desecrates 
 
 These sacred precincts — violates 
 
 The simple peasantry who toil 
 
 Content to live, proof 'gainst fate's spoil. 
 
 Ye humble Boers, what foul offence 
 
Here stultifies your innocence ? 
 What awful crime attests your sway, 
 As but crude savagery's assay ? 
 What 'trocious outrage alienates 
 Humanity ? Flaunt ye hell's traits ? 
 Alas^! Ah, know, ye honest folk. 
 That when yon wilderness ye broke, 
 And from wild beasts and savage men. 
 Ye dared reclaim a hearthstone — den, 
 Ye e'en presumed to beathe, tor live 
 In nature's freedom, and so give 
 Your spirits true immunity 
 From man's officiousness — envy. 
 Nor once considered Britain's smirk ; 
 That omen of some fiendish work. 
 Then, too, ye dared to claim, aye, own 
 
 The jeweled sands and sun-lit quartz 
 Within your precincts : where are sown 
 The gorgeous treasures earth supports. 
 Whilst Britain's avarice and greed 
 Half mocked possessions' s title-deed. 
 Then worst of all, ye dared, forsooth. 
 
 To organize a government : 
 And, too, presumed — O fateful truth ! 
 
To regulate e'en aliens' bent. 
 Nor sued ye once at Britain's shrine, 
 In token of her rights divine 
 And her omnipotence of zeal, 
 To supervise all peoples' weal. 
 Alas, ye, too, unmasked her schemes ; 
 Ye balked her filibusters' dreams : 
 So think ye she '11 once change her role. 
 
 And glory in true righteousness ? 
 As well the devil yield control. 
 
 And pestilence its foul caress ! 
 Ah, witness — how humane her way ! 
 Her war-hounds only ease their prey. 
 Indeed ! see, they tear poor farmers ; 
 Then gloat like ghouls, hell's slimed charmers. 
 And Chamberlain, high imp of grace. 
 And Salisbury, goad on their pace. 
 And this is her humanity. 
 And Christian, too, her sanity. 
 Whilst scribbling knaves and rhyming freaks 
 Sing their hosannas — vampire shrieks. 
 Their maudlin mouthings — anthems sweet 
 Unto the slums — would honor cheat. 
 
But, waifs of fate, ye peasants, bred 
 
 Where liberty anoints the sod. 
 Stampede the murd'rous whelps with lead, 
 
 Give them chilled steel's impressive nod. 
 Yield not an inch — protect your kin, 
 Your wives, your homes — flout discipline 
 With weird ambush, lest strategy 
 
 And tenfold numbers circumvent 
 Your noble few — grasp destiny 
 And twist it now subservient. 
 Frustrate the penury of pride ; 
 Be stealthy as the snake in glide : 
 Fling back their onslaughts — blast their packs 
 W^ith instant yet unseen attacks : 
 Precipitate the linghtning's spell ; 
 Teach them the horrors of war's hell ; 
 Prostrate their bloated arrogance : 
 Waylay their majesty's advance : 
 Debauch their confidence with fear ; 
 Then reason will suppress greed's sneer ; 
 And forced humanity will sert 
 Its true precedence — now inert. 
 Proscribe all favors they'd extend ; 
 Your independence comprehend. 
 
So shift all dreams of happiness. 
 
 Until those hounds unsinewed be : 
 Nor 'just existence 'til distress 
 
 Be but a whim of memory. 
 Nor barter vigilance e'en then 
 
 At beck of glory ; for vengeance 
 Will permeate their ev'ry vein, 
 
 And jeopardize your welfare's chance. 
 And 't will, if need there be, confess 
 Full penitence, don meek address. 
 
 And well, so far, ye've fixed your worth : 
 Ye've corraled here the wolves of earth: 
 Ye've flaunted grim defiance, too. 
 Afore such packs — villainy's crew. 
 And e'er do so. Let time record 
 That Spion Kop — O rich reward ! 
 Reverberates Majuba's psalm 
 And soothes your souls in fearless calm. 
 Ah, these are master 'chievements, too. 
 They demonstrate manhood's issue. 
 O G5d of Righteousness, ordain 
 Destruction to yon murd'rous train ! 
 O'erwhelm their dread marauding bands ; 
 
Lest they bring famine o'er these lands ! 
 Hurl down Your thunderbolts and sear 
 Their hellish hearts 'til abject fear 
 Strikes terror to their vague conscience, 
 And sloughs off greed's omnipotence ! 
 
 'T is easy for fiends to assume 
 
 Humanity's integrity : 
 Their scruples deprecate the doom, 
 
 They effervesce in secrecy. 
 Their machinations, too, convince 
 
 Their hearts that justice, honor, faith — 
 Are theirs incarnate : their instincts 
 
 Vouchsafe to soothe poor peasants' death. 
 Ah, how impressive ! yes ; how grand ! 
 What spectacle for this crude land ! 
 See — countless legions, bristling deep 
 With pregnant steel, in braggart sweep, 
 Strut up and down these haunts, and prey 
 Like cannibals on human clay. 
 Then frothing steeds take up the trail 
 When they default — nor 'lowed to fail. 
 Yet these are but the instruments 
 Of empire's lust and false pretense : 
 
And all in search of but a few 
 Of noble hearts, who dared undo 
 E'en Britain's deviltry and spite ; 
 Who still debauch her thieving might. 
 Ah, Spartan valor seems most tame. 
 
 When tested 'gainst your courage here. 
 Ye loyal Boers ! Let earth proclaim 
 
 A folk more fit to engineer 
 The virtues of sound equity. 
 True solvent in State's chemistry. 
 Yours are the homes and families 
 
 Where spirit of utmost good faith 
 Prevails ; where confidences please : 
 
 Nor selfish whims reveal their wraith. 
 Your piety and reverence 
 Need not the sanction of hell's 'gents : 
 Nor need your homely honesty 
 Certificate from villainy. 
 But are thase virtues all unknown 
 
 That nations seem so callous now. 
 Whilst dying patriots atone 
 
 With their life's blood for freedom's vow ? 
 
 Are governments so jealous that 
 Humanity is but spite's brat ? 
 
 »7 
 
Or are they paralized with fear, 
 
 Lest ocean's Juggernaut might sneer ? 
 
 'T is yesterday in conference 
 
 They thrilled the soul with evidence 
 
 Of their good faith, their equity : 
 
 And arbitration their strong plea. 
 
 To-day ? Indeed, they're all perverse : 
 
 Not one dares balk earth's dreadful curse. 
 
 These fields now sweat with human gore ; 
 
 And morrows 'bode hell's own down-pour. 
 
 'T is not Boer men alone who bleed; 
 
 E'en beardless youths, striplings, indeed, 
 
 Obey the instincts of their clime : 
 
 Their fresh young blood yields to greed's crime. 
 
 But are these all ? See, whose yon clay 
 
 Yet warm from life's extinguished sway ? 
 
 O see, the form declares the sex. 
 
 Ah, maiden she. What foul effects ! 
 
 And this is war ? yes ; murder grim — 
 
 And Christianity's regime. 
 
 There trikle down her virgin breasts 
 
 The crimson streams — death's fell bequests. 
 
 The ugly gashes 'dentify 
 
 The bayonets' mad savagery. 
 
Alas, behold, how fair her face ! 
 
 Yet fixed her brow in death's embrace. 
 
 Her lineaments, girlish quite. 
 
 Are fresh as those of sleeping sprite. 
 
 She seems the index of chaste worth : 
 
 And yet so soon cut off from earth. 
 
 Is this a sample of man's care. 
 
 Of martial chivalry and pride ? 
 Ah, Britian, answer! Is 't despair 
 
 That wreaks such vengeance, since aside 
 Your steel-browed hordes maraud in vain ? 
 And yours humanity's fit reign ? 
 Atrocious murder ! And alone ? 
 Nay — many such have here been known. 
 And why ? Come, Britain, what's your plea ? 
 Dare ye confess your infamy ? 
 Or, would ye, if ye dared ? Ah, no ! 
 Ye'U gloat, and make it glory's show. 
 Your greed, your conscience and your gold, 
 The trinity your schemes unfold, 
 Here run amuck : they'd scourge, aye, rot 
 Man's own existence — life e'en blot — 
 From these crude haunts : then blaze on high 
 What awful crimes stirred destiny. 
 
But know, your genius and your zeal, 
 Your dev'lish iustincts — climes to steal — 
 Have e'en before been set at naught 
 And blasted by brave farmers ; taught 
 Their independence scorned your might. , 
 And here again ye'll see it smite. 
 Your Anglo-Saxon liberty 
 
 Is but a synonym for lust 
 Of empire; 'tis, indeed, myst'ry : 
 
 And effervescent with pride's rust. 
 This panacea cures the ills 
 
 All alien peoples suffer from : 
 Then balks their hopes, and mocks appeals, 
 
 Whilst filibust'ring with freedom. 
 And, too, ere long oppression's spell 
 Initiates its burdens fell. 
 Then tyranny blights every hearth : 
 And man thus 'joys its cursed berth. 
 'Tis plague to independence' worth. 
 
 So, sturdy Boers, let sinews speak : 
 Let ev'ry nerve be strung to wreak 
 Unending vengeance 'gainst yon packs, 
 'Gainst Britian's infamous attacks. 
 
Let grim defiance be your faith, 
 
 E'en to the moment of your death. 
 
 Let yonder crags and peaks imbue 
 
 Your souls with thunder's blasting brew. 
 
 Let fiery hail annihilate 
 
 The squadrons that would steal your state. 
 
 Let lightning's blinding torch efface 
 
 Aught vestige of their sordid race. 
 
 Let not defeat annul your zeal; 
 
 Be ready e'er to blunt their steel. 
 
 Let ev'ry precipice ordain 
 
 Your sleepless vigils, and sustain 
 
 Your resolutions to defy 
 
 Their tried maneuvers — strategy. 
 
 The air that fans yon kopjes grand 
 
 And yon bold ridges doth demand 
 
 Allegiance most inviolate : 
 
 It scorns submission — 'tis slaves' trait. 
 
 And faithfully, ye noble band. 
 Have ye defied the fiends' demand : 
 Ye've spurned their machinations fell ; 
 And e'en profaned their citadel : 
 Ye've blanketed their haughty pride ; 
 
And dared to tear their shams aside : 
 
 Ye've shattered, too, their venal ranks ; 
 
 And blasted more than one phalanx : 
 
 Ye've taught the filibusters how 
 
 True freemen consecrate their vow, 
 
 To hold most sacred kin and home ; 
 
 Also to dedicate freedom. 
 
 So yours the destiny that pleads, 
 
 Not in loud boasts, but in grim deeds. 
 
 O ever thus continue here ! 
 
 Spurn suzerainty's bastard sphere : 
 
 'Tis but oppression's stealthy whim, 
 
 The legerdemain of greed's dream. 
 
 Let your tried manhood and prowess 
 
 Effectuate your readiness 
 
 To challenge instantly the herd 
 
 Of villains, who'd — all undeterred — 
 
 Attempt to e'en subvert your State, 
 
 Your Government. Let death create 
 
 — And naught save death — your apathy, 
 
 And terminate your energy. 
 
 Let yonder thickets, aye, yon heights 
 
 Intensify your confidence : 
 They yawn as heritage where rights 
 
Must be immune from felons' prints. 
 Let such grim fastnesses reserve 
 
 Their mystical omnipotence, 
 'Til when all-fagged beats ev'ry nerve, 
 
 They then breathe forth hopes' eloquence, 
 And fire the worn out spirits, so 
 They 'gain respond; aye; challenge foe. 
 Let future ages realize 
 
 The awful hardships you have borne. 
 What 'trocious wrongs dared jeopardize 
 
 E'en your existence : what foul scorn 
 Those hypocrites — O Nations bred 
 In Christianity's wise creed ! — 
 Rained down upon your ev'ry pray'r 
 For recognition: what despair. 
 Too, racked your torn vitality, 
 And tortured with mad agony. 
 Yet through them all your fortitude 
 Ignored defeat : your courage brewed 
 A fearlessness that beggared aught 
 E'er known to man — with wisdom fraught. 
 Hence may the God of Righteousness 
 
 Continue to protect your cause ! 
 And may His infinite process 
 
 23 
 
Inaugurate immortal laws 
 Of freedom and humanity ! 
 
 And may He manifest His care 
 For your concern, your constancy 
 
 And your fidelity — most rare ! 
 And may His confirmation bless 
 Your heroism with true success ! 
 
THE FATE OF DULLSTROOM 
 
THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 CONGRESS, 
 Tvw3 CofiES Received 
 
 OCT. 28 1901 
 
 COPVRIQMT EKTHY 
 
 0LASS ^ XXa Nc 
 
 COPY a 
 
 Copyright igoi 
 By JOHN W. RODDY 
 
 
THE FATE OF DULLSTROOM 
 
 AH, see : how sweet, how innocent 
 Down Steilport Vale the rich pageant 
 Of village and of hamlet now ! 
 Each seems a garden full in blow. 
 They nestle 'neath yon ridges wild, 
 Yon rugged heights, each as the child 
 Who rests upon its mother's breast. 
 And flourishes alone most blest. 
 And balms and perfumes mingle there, 
 As tho' they'd dedicate the care, 
 The soothing bliss each day reveals. 
 Contentment smothers greed's appeals. 
 The breaths from yonder crags undo 
 Aught shadow of distrust : they brew 
 An incense that exhilarates 
 Man's spirit to defy such fates, 
 As would torment him with the gloom 
 Of bondage, or oppression's doom. 
 Now ev'ry village far and near 
 Is garbed in home's familiar cheer. 
 
There is that sanctity of grace, 
 That air of humbleness, that trace 
 Of true humility and worth. 
 Which permeates the fam'ly hearth. 
 'Tis DuUstroom's panorama opes 
 Afore the wand'rer's wak'ning hopes. 
 His startled gaze, his wond'ring sense, 
 
 In deep appreciative spell, 
 Drink in the precious influence 
 
 Yon cozy spectacle doth tell. 
 See : how reputable, how free, 
 Each farmstead looms in specialty. 
 Each seems impressed with solemn pride, 
 As 'midst yon fruit trees it doth 'bide. 
 While yonder are the herds and flocks. 
 Unguarded as yon barren rocks. 
 Too, cereals and flowers play 
 At efflorescence like dawn's ray. 
 All vegetation seems abloom, 
 As tho' 'twere nature's own green-room. 
 And see : how glorious, how gay, 
 
 'Bout mother earth's rich velvet couch, 
 The babes now while the hours away. 
 
 And gambol to each zephyr's touch. 
 
Their sun-kissed locks, their glowing cheeks, 
 
 Their dancing eyes where mischief speaks, 
 
 Their sacred brows and dimpled smiles, 
 
 Their merry laughter, artless wiles. 
 
 Their lisping voices without end, 
 
 All mingle there, and seem to blend 
 
 In holy cadence, while on high 
 
 The songstresses of air reply. 
 
 Theirs is an innocence, indeed, 
 
 Nor brute nor savage would impede. 
 
 But where the mothers? where the maids? 
 
 Ah, theirs the cares ! Duty pervades 
 
 Their ev'ry move as now they toil 
 
 Within their homes. Their thoughts recoil 
 
 Again and 'gain from such routine. 
 
 To wish and pray, with nerve-racked mien, 
 
 For dear ones safety and success 
 
 On fields afar where fiends transgress. 
 
 Their senses reel at times as tho' 
 
 The madhouse would round out life's glow. 
 
 Their nervous tension, wrung with fear. 
 
 Half beckons to prostration's swoon ; 
 And burning cheeks and sobs revere 
 
 Aught circumstance of justice boon. 
 
 29 
 
Whence vivid imagery faith saps ; 
 And tears interpret hearts' collapse. 
 Then, too, again their eyes but stare, 
 As tho they read impressions rare, 
 Transmitted from the haunts of strife ; 
 Where loyalty seems merged with life. 
 Their cheeks also take on a pale, 
 Unnatural tint, as some veil 
 Of mystery. And efforts seem 
 Mechanical as babe's first whim. 
 They 're cognizant of dear ones' trust 
 In brave DeWet. Ah, 'tis most just ! 
 Yet those dear ones may at this time 
 
 Be wrapped in sleep's eternal hush : 
 Or, they may never, such their crime, 
 
 Behold their babes, their wives — so blush. 
 Ye Christian scoundrels, 'tis your greed 
 That 's sowing evils' hell-nursed seed 
 Through ev'iy precinct of this clime! 
 Disasters seem to ye sublime. 
 But constant as the break of dawn 
 These women through grim perils' yawn. 
 Tbe tender airs quite sooth and 'suage 
 
 Aught of misgiving, hence their nerves 
 
 30 
 
Again doth reconcile faith's pledge, 
 
 The glory independence serves. 
 And now their spirits fairly thrill, 
 As tho' rehearsing Heav'n's own will — 
 Responsive to rich freedom's breath, 
 Their hopes defy the pangs of death. 
 Enthusiasm fires ev'ry sense 
 And thieves their hearts of consequence, 
 Of vague exhaustion's impotence. 
 Their eyes, too, blaze with sudden glow, 
 And warmth and zeal refresh their brow. 
 And buoyant visions justify 
 Their new born confidence. Each sigh 
 But consecrates devotion's 'pulse, 
 And dedicates hopes' fond results. 
 
 II 
 
 Now morn is on : the heavens glow 
 In richest radiance; their flow 
 Of infinite splendor imports 
 Refreshing tenderness, and thwarts 
 Aught circumstance of witching gloom. 
 Hell's horrors break not here in bloom. 
 Greed's murd'rous frenzy visits not 
 
 31 
 
This sanctuary; nor invades 
 These fatherless homes. 'Tis their lot 
 
 To 'scape the ghouls' atrocious raids. 
 Here nature, too, now consummates 
 Her ev'ry promise. These estates 
 Are garbed in vegetation's wealth : 
 Whose fragrance stays the drooping health. 
 The sunbeams soften sorrow's touch 
 And half propitiate fate's clutch. 
 They tender sweet refreshment here 
 To hearts quite racked with mortal fear. 
 And ev'ry breeze seems charged with joy ; 
 The hours know not war's dread alloy. 
 The wraiths of mis'ry desecrate 
 Not these blest haunts ; nor 'nitiate 
 Their fatal scourge, their pestilence. 
 Abroad there 's naught but innocence. 
 The babes, too, dance and frisk as tho' 
 Some angel whispered that day's glow 
 Should be eternal. They engage 
 Each moment ere it craves passage. 
 They clap their hands and shout with glee — 
 The butterflies are not more free. 
 But, stay : behold the mothers now : 
 
 32 
 
Also, the maids. Alas ! each brow 
 
 Is sad : some eyes are fixed afar : 
 
 They search yon kopjes : mortal war 
 
 They know is raging ♦ and its brands 
 
 Are devastating neighbor lands. 
 
 They scan in vain familiar heights : 
 
 No dear one's form grows on their sights. 
 
 Their thoughts reck not the day's progress j 
 
 Nor contemplate households' address. 
 
 Some eyes are fixed upon the hearths, 
 
 As near the mothers sit and stare : 
 But their protectors make their berths 
 
 Afar — to stay greed's wolves most spare. 
 They hold communion with the forms, 
 That seem to people, as weird worms, 
 The smoking embers : but no light 
 Arouses the depths of their sight. 
 They seem half lifeless, and intent 
 To let all duties be misspent. 
 No tidings from the grim conflict 
 
 For days have 'prised them of their lords : 
 Hence dreadful suff'ring they depict 
 
 As dear ones' lot 'gainst fiendish hordes. 
 This crude uncertainty torments 
 
 33 
 
With constant gnawing. Its incense 
 E'en smothers faith, and blasts each dream 
 Wherein they'd color hopes' regime. 
 Few words are uttered : heavy sighs 
 At times upset — O weird surprise — 
 This gloomy stillness : cheeks are wan 
 And haggard ; eyes of dull ebon ; 
 And lips take on a bloodless hue. 
 Half livid; while jet tresses strew, 
 With careless 'bandon, all restraint. 
 Expression's fervor grows most faint. 
 Indifferent attention 'tends 
 Day's ev'ry incident : fate spends 
 In vain aught premonition here : 
 Its chrysalis wakes lone and drear. 
 And ev'ry movement seems endowed 
 With sheer exhaustion : spirits proud 
 Have grown inanimate, indeed : 
 Ambition's 'pulse clots ere 'tis freed. 
 
 Ill 
 But, stay ! O see ! yes ; look again ! 
 'Tis no phantom of a mad brain, 
 'Tis grim reality. O God ! 
 
 34 
 
It paralyzes ev'ry sense : 
 Aye ; shrivels up earth's fertile sod; 
 
 And blights this land's intelligence. 
 See : what thickening clouds of smoke, 
 As tho' in mock'ry of night's cloak, 
 Break from yon farmsteads ! smoth'ring, too, 
 Yon lamps that 'witch the heaven's blue. 
 It swells on high like some vast wave 
 That sweeps resistless ocean's grave. 
 What fleecy haze hangs on its rear ! 
 What dense infernal blazes smear 
 And burst the rafters with that rage 
 E'er known as hell's own heritage! 
 They glut the heavens with wild fire; 
 Annihilating gloom's attire. 
 O, awful conflagration this ! 
 Alas, DuUstroom, what Nemesis 
 Breathes such chastisement ? And wherefore ? 
 Answer, Britain ! Yes ; 'tis your score. 
 See: snaky tongues of ghastly flame. 
 As tho' imbued with greed's foul aim, 
 Spit sulph'rous slime about each breeze. 
 And 'noint disorders' lethal ease. 
 Their presence flaunts a gangrene such 
 
 35 
 
As violates e'en death's dread touch. 
 
 A hundred flames merge into one : 
 
 'Tis man's volcano ; his, alone. 
 
 Its fumes are charged with venom's zeal: 
 
 They suffocate all human weal. 
 
 Its lurid fangs, with fiendish glee, 
 
 Froth pestilence — decay's orgy. 
 
 But, stay : whose are those forms ? they flit 
 
 With burning brands 'bout each farmstead, 
 Like demons breathing hell's spirit — 
 
 They grovel like hyenas dread. 
 They batter down each guardless door, 
 And burglarize each home: aye, more : 
 They pillage, yes, e'en violate. 
 And smash and tear each hearth's estate. 
 They smirk and sneer, and comment, too, 
 That valuables are so few. 
 They brush aside each mistress, while 
 Their lusty eyes would fain defile. 
 They penetrate each sanctum there : 
 Not e'en babes' chambers 'scape their care. 
 Then like some ghouls from out a fen 
 They half compare each other's gain. 
 Their glances seem endowed with glow 
 
 36 
 
Most devilish, like wolves' shadow. 
 Their dull grimaces illustrate 
 
 What tender feelings thrill their hearts ; 
 What warm humanity doth sate 
 
 Their sense of righteousness ; what starts 
 Their condescending chivalry, 
 And 'stablishes their sympathy. 
 Indeed ! how true ! see; like mean swine, 
 
 They drive the mothers — all unstrung — 
 And their weak babes, O gems divine ! 
 
 With taunts and sneers, from hearths now wrung 
 W^ith mem'ries of a thousand joys, 
 From homes where thrive love's ev'ry voice. 
 And this, too, with that fiendish zeal, 
 Allied to savagery's revel. 
 Aye; e'en with force they dispossess 
 Each helpless maid, unnerved mistress. 
 Nor infant nor the aged stay 
 The sinews of proud Britain's sway. 
 And into night's damp chilly air 
 They turn them loose, racked with despair. 
 They, too, deny them shelter e'en 
 Within the stalls, or cribs, or pen. 
 What noble men ! ah, heroes all ! 
 
 37 
 
How 'lustrious ! theirs is the call 
 
 To honor and to glory here. 
 
 Protectors they of fame most dear ! 
 
 And theirs are consciences most pure ! 
 
 Intoxication doth assure 
 
 Fidelity to aught pretense — 
 
 They 're civilization's agents ! 
 
 They'd reconcile the reign of law ! 
 
 But human lives ? Ugh ! trifles raw. 
 
 Indeed ! who dares question their course ? 
 
 Whose is the impudence ? what force ? 
 
 They'd institute true righteousness ! 
 
 But innocents ? Curse their distress ! 
 
 They'd stamp their genius o'er this land ! 
 
 The people ? Well, beast and brigand 
 
 Attest the spell of Britain's arm : 
 
 Why not these folks thrive 'neath its charm ? 
 
 Their nationality ? W^hy, fate 
 
 Ignores such shading; 'tis sham trait. 
 
 But British nationality ? 
 
 'Deed, sir ! Damn such effrontery ! 
 
 'Tis 'trocious insult! Britain's care 
 
 Pre-empts all use of earth and air. 
 
IV 
 
 Behold : in groups the women drift 
 Now here, now there : their senses shift 
 From soul-torn lamentations low 
 
 And gnawing anguish's collapse 
 To half unconscious stupor's glow 
 
 In dumb amazement. Their mishaps 
 Become forgotten, while yon sight, 
 Yon conflagration, fiends' foul blight, 
 Bewilders reason's dominance. 
 They stare, as tho' undone in trance, 
 Aye, half possessed of some weird spell, 
 ■At seething flames, the slime of hell. 
 They see their sacred hearths and homes 
 Devoured by fire; whose fury combs 
 Each circumstance of destiny. 
 The long lean fangs, with murd'rous glee. 
 Jab at the deep rich vault on high 
 And its soft gleams, as tho' to try 
 Their fitful reign of vengeance here. 
 As 'gainst the calms of night's career. 
 The suffocating clouds of smoke, 
 On ev'ry hand, half serve to cloak 
 Yon villainous monsters, outlaws : 
 
 39 
 
Whose hatred recks not faith or cause. 
 Where'er some farmstead seems immune 
 To flames progress their torches soon 
 Establish hell's significance. 
 Alas ! what fiends men countenance ! 
 Now DuUstroom blazes — one dense mass 
 Of crackling ruins. O, alas ! 
 W^hat spectacle for human souls ! 
 
 O God ! What awful grandeur this ! 
 What fiery belching ! Sulph'rous shoals 
 
 'Pear now and then 'bove flames' abyss. 
 'Tis hell's own maelstrom of wild fire, 
 Let loose to vindicate man's ire. 
 In raging torrents, not unlike 
 
 Volcano's mad upheaval, now 
 The flames tear upward : yes; and strike 
 
 'E'en yon foul whelps with terror low. 
 They crawl and crouch as tho' they knew 
 The outraged Providence would brew 
 Some punishment, condign and meet. 
 Their bragadocio wilts complete. 
 And who are these brutal scoundrels? 
 
 Why, these are Kitchener's gallants — 
 The pride of Britain. His counsels, 
 
 40 
 
Too, formulated their advance. 
 His is the master-brain, that smears 
 This land with mothers' heart-wrenched tears. 
 And laughs to scorn ought shelter here 
 For babes from nights' chill atmosphere. 
 All hail ! the soul of Alva reigns. 
 'Tis 'gain incarnate o'er these plains. 
 Akin to pestilence its breath 
 Disseminates disease and death. 
 
 V 
 
 See : DuUstroom 's but a smold'ring pile 
 Of charred ruins, of ashes vile. 
 Its thrifty avenues now yawn 
 With gruesome debris. Each fresh lawn 
 Is all besmeared with refuge foul. 
 
 The flowers and vines ne'er again 
 Shall soothe the weary fatigued soul. 
 
 Nor vegetation trust man's reign. 
 The earmarks of prosperity — 
 
 The well stocked farms and homes most trim- 
 Are gone fore'er. Gaunt misery 
 
 E'en grovels in its weird regime. 
 The honest efforts, worthy zeal, 
 
 41 
 
Vicissitudes of life's appeal, 
 
 The simple wants and purpose true, 
 
 Indomitable courage, too, 
 
 — All, all are blasted : naught remains. 
 
 Grim desolation marks these plains, 
 
 But stay : there is some evidence 
 
 Of life about : see; children stray 
 All aimlessly: their innocence 
 
 Would temper e'en the beasts of prey. 
 And scanty, too, is their attire : 
 While chilling airs raw drafts respire. 
 Pitiably they cry and moan, 
 W^hile clinging to each mother's gown. 
 They call for home and its retreat : 
 The ghastly ruins mock and greet. 
 Then, too, the babes that take the breast 
 Instinctively crave for night's rest. 
 The half-bare bosoms mitigate 
 In vain their sorely distressed state. 
 Their soft angelic dimples fade : 
 And plaintive wails break o'er night's shade. 
 And now the mothers, quite distraught. 
 
 Approach unconsciously the haunts, 
 Which scarce a moment since were fraught 
 
 42 
 
With love's beneficence, life's wants. 
 They 'gin to wake, as from a dream : 
 Their cheeks half flush — their dark eyes gleam 
 With witching fire — their lips are set — 
 And ev'ry nerve is strung to whet 
 Their bitter indignation now. 
 
 Their spirits devastate hopes' care, 
 And thrill vitality's marrow 
 
 W^ith blood refreshed from grim despair. 
 And half in hiss they voice each pulse : 
 Their feelings challenge times results. 
 " Sneak off, you cursed whelps of hell ! 
 'Tis meet ye *d know your Alva's spell. 
 Go — slink away, ye monsters foul ! 
 
 Ye well deserve his confidence. 
 There 's written in your zeal, your scowl, 
 
 The impress of his recompense. 
 Ye craven curs, your spirits slime 
 The institutions of this clime. 
 The genius of our land ye 'd blight, 
 To gratify your 'trocious spite. 
 Traditions, too, ye 'd blast and smear 
 With greed's omnipotence, veneer. 
 Our innocence ye 'd flaunt and twit 
 
 43 
 
As primitive: our hope's ye 'd greet 
 
 With stern oppression's policy : 
 
 And all our comforts ye 'd decree 
 
 As most repugnant to the sense 
 
 Of Christianity's patience. 
 
 'Tis manifest, humanity 
 
 Wakes not your pulse, your sanity. 
 
 But, who 's deceived ? 'Tis self same spite, 
 
 That armed the savages of night, 
 
 And egged them on to murd'rous hate 
 
 Along the Mohawk : then more late 
 
 Applied the torch to Norfolk's homes; 
 
 And 'gain to Washington's. Time combs 
 
 Invain your fell malignancy. 
 
 Destruction clots your crude fancy. 
 
 Indeed ! ye are most competent 
 
 To civilize mankind — to mold 
 Ambitions, yes, temperament, 
 
 And soothe his feelings' intense hold ! 
 Yes ; ye devilish fiends, ye ghouls. 
 Solicitude subdues your souls ! 
 Ye maudlin brats, 'tis vengeance' hate, 
 That 's raging in your hearts. Our State 
 Ye 're determined to burn and scourge ; 
 
But we 're not dead : the dawn must urge 
 Some retribution. If naught be, 
 Then for vengeance and its mis'ry. 
 Aye, everlasting. Let grim time 
 Establish 'gain the reign of crime. 
 Let sire to son these days reveal. 
 Let solemn vows — oaths on cold steel — 
 Refresh their spirits, buoy their pride, 
 Adown the ages. Let hopes' tide 
 Unleash restraint, and spurn with vim 
 
 Suspicion e'en of compromise. 
 Let mortal combat, stern and grim. 
 
 E'er flourish o'er this land — revise 
 Its homely instincts, and endow 
 Its ev'ry sinew and marrow. 
 Let ev'ry morn invigorate 
 The night's allegiance, despite fate. 
 Let steel and lead and torch transmit 
 The homage here our sons deem fit. 
 Let Britain's vampires realize 
 The untold tortures wars devise — 
 The utter 'bandonment of faith — 
 The lacerations of slow death. 
 Let ev'ry haunt be peopled e'er 
 
 45 
 
With sleuth hounds charged with sore despair. 
 
 Let yonder hills and mountains gauge 
 
 Security to freedom's badge. 
 
 Let crags and peaks reverberate 
 
 Defiance echoes — life's estate. 
 
 Let Britain's bastard dreams and greed, 
 
 Her rampant perfidy, her creed 
 
 Of infamous officiousness, 
 
 Be shattered by cold lead's process. 
 
 VI 
 
 Yet her mad onslaughts are outdone 
 By gospel mongers' cheap reason. 
 Her Christian ministers pervert 
 
 The brainless multitude's conscience; 
 And prompt their spirits to assert 
 
 And 'stablish their omnipotence. 
 Her mothers, too, coerce each heart, 
 That fain would yield to honor's smart. 
 Another Chamberlain, indeed, 
 Or Kitchener, twins of hell's breed, 
 They half imagine in each son. 
 Alas ! their senses seem undone. 
 The rare sagacity and trust 
 
 46 
 
Of Gladstone's worth they spurn as dust. 
 
 'Tis most offensive to their pride. 
 
 But wait — our blood will yet decide. 
 
 O Nature, clothe our wombs with care, 
 
 Give us fecundity most rare, 
 
 That sons aplenty may be our share ! 
 
 All hopes of comfort we'll forego: 
 
 We'll charge out milk with vengeance' vow 
 
 Since fiends from hell tear and destroy 
 
 Our homes, our lives let death employ 
 
 His slimy machinations, too, 
 
 And clot their souls with lethal dew. 
 
 O may their multitudes be curst 
 
 With loathsome plagues, diseases worst ! 
 
 May some dread cataclysm devour 
 
 Their ev'ry corse ! May floods o'erpow'r ! 
 
 May some cloudburst denude these lands 
 
 Of ev'ry trace of their fell bands ! 
 
 May grim paralysis besmear 
 
 Their hell-nursed spirits ! May life's cheer 
 
 Be strangled by mad agony. 
 
 By sloughing tortures' specialty ! 
 
 May ev'ry sense be ravaged, torn 
 
 By foulest blights earth can suborn ! 
 
May awful misery attend 
 
 Their ev'ry moment 'neath this clime ! 
 May their hypocrisy, their blend 
 
 Of national weal, rot in slime ! 
 And may their wives and mothers know 
 What awful suff'ring 's been our woe ! 
 May their fond hearts be racked and wrung. 
 As ours have been by throes unsung ! 
 May their proud souls be scalded, too, 
 With burning fevers' wasting brew ! 
 May they experience the blight 
 Of some wild demons' 'trocious spite ! 
 May their devotion win the sneers 
 Of maudlin wretches, while their tears 
 Are charged with frenzy's mad despair ! 
 May gnawing anguish be their share ! 
 And may their dreams of love and bliss 
 Succumb to instincts, crude, amiss ! 
 
 VII 
 
 "Yes, know: our heritage is air and sun, 
 While mother earth confers her tone 
 Of liberty, of freedom here. 
 Fate's augury grows less austere. 
 
 48 
 
Our habitat, if needs must be, 
 
 Shall be transferred to regions free, 
 
 Amidst yon rocky fastnesses ; 
 
 And next their crags our brood we'll bless. 
 
 The granite sinews of yon heights 
 
 Shall mould our young, restore their rights. 
 
 Aye ; more ; invigorate each heart. 
 
 And blend their spirits with man's start. 
 
 Our wants are few ; nor aught disburse, 
 
 Save what necessity must nurse. 
 
 Yon noble crests shall cradle be 
 
 For our offspring, till liberty, 
 
 Birth-right of man, shall blast and rot 
 
 Greed's petty meannesses, hell's lot. 
 
 DeWet and Botha shall destroy 
 
 Yon bloodthirsty whelps, and employ 
 
 All merciless means to stampede, 
 
 W^ith grim destruction, their foul greed. 
 
 Inhuman zeal identifies 
 
 Proud Britain's magnanimity. 
 Her glory wallows in disguise — 
 
 The sordid mask of infamy. 
 The dev'lish energy, the boast 
 Of her blind hordes, recks not wars' cost, 
 
 49 
 
But craves the recognition e'er 
 
 Of royalty, with its cheap glare, 
 
 Its affectations and pretence, 
 
 Its gaudy functions and nonsense. 
 
 What frills or gewgaws, pray, dear friend, 
 
 Are there about true righteousness ? 
 What glamor haloes honor's trend. 
 
 That their proud spirits would possess ? 
 Alas ! Justice, thy glories dim 
 Afore the tinsel of greed's whim ! 
 
 VIII 
 " Down with kingly sovereignty ! 
 Effete excrescence — mockery ! 
 'Tis as the slime upon the surf. 
 Or, as the toadstool on the turf. 
 Man's independence withers where 
 Its empty vanities appear. 
 It vitiates his brotherhood ; 
 For caste pulsates e'en with its blood. 
 And privileges dissipate 
 True equity, proud honor's state. 
 Therefore, away with its vile taint ! 
 'Twould blight th' integrity of saint. 
 
 5° 
 
Faugh ! its foul effluvia clot 
 
 Humanity's true franchise — lot. 
 
 O God ! sustain our hopes— endow 
 
 Our spirits with undying glow 
 
 Of dominant defiance — blend 
 
 Our ev'ry instinct, to the end 
 
 That grim existence must respond 
 
 To naught save warfare's bristling wand — 
 
 Maintain our 'legiance to the cause 
 
 Of liberty, till death's weird jaws 
 
 Close down upon each bleeding clay. 
 
 O sweet such ending ! 'Tis faith's way. 
 
 'Tis but the triumph of the soul, 
 
 The glory of the mind's control. 
 
 So may our eve of life be sung 
 
 With no regrets ; nor know the tongue 
 
 Of sacrilege or perfidy : 
 
 Nor aught but psalms of constancy. 
 
 Not e'en one hint of faithlessness 
 
 Must mar our confidence — success. 
 
 Then Heav'nly Grace will 'noint our days j 
 
 And our crude wisdom chant His praise." 
 
^hl? 89 " 
 
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