RIEL, THE REBEL.
Joaquin Miller
e died at dawn in the land of snows; - A priest at the left, a priest at the right;
- The doomed man praying for his pitiless foes,
- And each priest holding a low dim light,
- To pray for the soul of the dying.
- But Windsor Castle was far away;
- And Windsor Castle was never so gay
- With her gorgeous banners flying!
- The hero was hung in the windy dawn
- Twas splendidly done, the telegraph said;
- A creak of the neck, then the shoulders drawn;
- A heave of the breast and the man hung dead,
- And, oh! never such valiant dying!
- While Windsor Castle was far away
- With its fops and fools on that windy day,
- And its thousand banners flying!
- Some starving babes where a stark stream flows
- 'Twixt windy banks by an Indian town,
- A frenzied mother in the freezing snows,
- While softly the pitying snow came down
- To cover the dead and the dying.
- But Windsor Castle was gorgeous and gay
- With lion banners that windy day—
- With lying banners flying.