Prophecy
Joaquin Miller
hen spires shall shine on the Amazon's shore, - From temples of God, and time shall have roll'd
- Like a scroll from the border the limitless wold;
- When the tiger is tamed, and the mono no more
- Swings over the waters to chatter and call
- To the crocodile sleeping in rushes and fern;
- When cities shall gleam, and their battlements burn
- In the sunsets of gold, where the cocoanuts fall,
- Twill be something to lean from the stars and to know
- That the engine, red-mouthing with turbulent tongue,
- The white ships that come, and the cargoes that go,
- We invoked them of old when the nations were young:
- Twill be something to know that we named them of old,—
- That we said to the nations, Lo! here is the fleece
- That allures to the rest, and the perfectest peace,
- With its foldings of sunlight shed mellow like gold:
- That we were the Carsons in kingdoms untrod,
- And follow'd the trail through the rustle of leaves,
- And stood by the wave where solitude weaves
- Her garments of mosses and lonely as God:
- That we did make venture when singers were young,
- Inviting from Europe, from long-trodden lands
- That are easy of journeys, and holy from hands
- Laid upon by the Masters when giants had tongue:
- The prophet should lead us, and lifting a hand
- To the world on the way, like a white guiding star,
- Point out and allure to the fair and unknown,
- And the far, and the hidden delights of a land.
- Behold my Sierras! there singers shall throng;
- Their white brows shall break through the wings of the night
- As the fierce condor breaks through the clouds in his flight;
- And I here plant the cross and possess them with song.