THE WEST SHORE.
142
No. 14.
L'mlrr this heading are putIKhel u ninny at possible of the poems entered for the
monthly poetical conlcti. See announcement in advertising columns (or particular!.
'Hie nnmci of (Mice winners in the February contest are given on page 140.
No. ti.
SAFK.
Ah, who can ipeak in arrogant pride.
(X an erring brother's sin,
While round himself the treacherous, tide
In deceitful riilci spin?
And who dire gate with pitiful eves
On a soul storm tost, x-rpl-xt?
The circling vortex widening flies
To embrace the scoffer next!
For who It side? And who can defy
The deceitful whirls that wail
In the tossing sea of fate?
Count them as safe who, anchoring, lie
Undisturbed by life's rough breuth
In the harbored calm of death.
Oakland. California.
MAKV l.AMHKKT.
No. i. A KKNCOSTRK.
We arc standing tonight by the rlal
Of the grave of uur buried past,
And out of the damp and the darkness
You would call the dead I ju'rus, at List.
With hamls none too gentle anil kindly,
You have irlrd the unwilling soil,
To scan what we once would have hidden
Away from ourselves and our (iod.
There was shame, there was guilt in the hiding.
And the years no forgetfulness bring;
Hut the mind it e'er turning and seeking
Itself in still Ulhe to fling.
And youl Holils your heart naught that is human,
Tlinl this honor your eve now ullures?
My share was the shame and the sorrow,
Hut the wrong of It surely was yours.
If to you there is nothing apulliiig
In this skeleton buried here;
If the ileitis of your lifetime have left you
Too hardened to care or to fear,
Yet why need you play with my anguish?
!oeB that give your malice delight?
All the bright, happy hours of lifetime
Could not hiile that one shame from my sight.
Then leave to this vigil we're kifang
The silence that Initial demands',
No action can lessen my sorrow.
Or free lnn their sin stain your hands.
Oregon l ily. Oregon.
IN THE GKANTI CANYON.
Bend, dip the oar, away, away,
Adown the canyon grand and gray.
Where rapids roar and cliffs on high,
F.mbatlled round, shul out the sky,
Where gorge, escarp and fissure ynwn
With phantom features in the dawn.
A streak of sky is all that tells
Of life on high, where daylight dwells.
Light up, ye rocks vermilionhucd,
The daikness of this solitude,
As on we glide where granite walls
Fmbosomed hide Huge waterfalls,
Whose distant dnshings have their birth
Deep in the heart of mother earth.
Far up the heights the mountain sheep
I.ook down Ihe canyon dark and deep,
And elk nnd deer secluded rove
In sheltered vnlleys far above;
The mountain lion builds his den
On high in some dark piney glen.
And 'neath red sandstone ledges hide
Huge griulies up the canyon side.
Sieed on, good lioat, ere maelstroms snatch
Thee with an arm I can not match,
Past Artec watch towers on the peaks,
Where sleeps an age that never speaks,
Where flint chips still and temples trace
The tenure of a perished race;
Past dead volcanoes, where of old
The fire and flood in conflict rolled,
And molten lava dammed Ihe tide
Along the canyon't blackened side.
Leap on, my boat, the wide earth win ;
Too long this prison shuts us in;
For days and days this granite gloom
Hits locked us in a living tomb.
I long for fields w here free w inds blow ,
Where mallow, sage and roses grow,
U here (iod's glad daylight pours on high,
And all Ihe earth is domed wilh sky
KVA F-SIKKY l)VK.
AlUmy. Oregon.
I K AN Mi (1 K.iu.
No. 15. ADVERSITY.
Adversity! Thou art our friend, not foe,
And sent to misc, not crush, the better part in man;
Thy chast'ning hand woulilst haughty priilc lay low,
And leach man's heart to humbly scan
His neighbor's faults, and not to breathe anil fan
The flame, which turns adversity to woe.
He who has fell thy chastening rod
Has synikilhy with misfortune and distress,
And would relieve n brother of his land,
Or hiile his faults in a recess
Of silence, deep in his heart, where none would guess
That he a secret hid. True friendship's this.
Adversity! A refining fire thou art;
Thy flame consumes the dross, and leaves behind
A metal pure, of honest ring, whose outward par!
Reflects the trueness of the heart,
And trusty friendship shows, unselfish, kind,
A priceless gem. unknown to art. '
Whatcom, Washington. M. Mi ik I'll KKS.
No. 13. D.U'tillTF.KS OF TIIK liODS.
(California IVsrls.l
Come, dry your tears, ve daughters of Ihe gods.
Ye lirsl who tmul this rh'h and flower) main.
See here Ihe iH,iy nods
And Liugh usm the warm ami ictfumrd plain.
It oiens wide its gav and gohlen bloom.
And gladden Ilinven and earth. Il fe.ir mil rain.
Or wind, or desert noon.
And ve have ihown it, to niniglr with vou' luvs,
And vi, go forth and hll vour hearts in praise,
Stnke new and merry notes. The Ksehwhullm' crown
Will ill belit that fair,
Willi khatkm ermsed, wilh dropping tears, hen! ilown.
M.ikr sorrow dumb; have slrong and god like grace.
And gUihlen Iwnien ami earth, II vr would win renown.
No. 1 ,
I ..mil, Cahlornu.
I ll I IAS II. SlII KV.
The Auii.'iiJ d(V.'mna, tliego'd.n poH. chosen a Ihe stale flower of C.
itonttt.
AI.ONF. I1Y I'HK SKA.
I sil alone tonic,lit, and o'er mv soul
Sweep rushing waves of kinging and unrest.
Without, upon the samls, sad lireakers roll;
Within, a teniiet rage in my brensl,
Akme! Ah, more alone llun moon or stars!
A dull compinion solitude- my friend.
I cull across the night; Ihe missive Uirs,
Thai to the fielils of thought nniteclkw lend.
Drop ikiwn. I leap lievond anil call to you.
A sigh, a moan, a dull, dciirtng cry
The surf, Ihe blast, ierha a kist sea-mew
Deception cheats the sense! I bravely try
To brush nwav Ihe tears; the sinking heart
I o hum wilh patienl ho. Ah me! that we
Should soul fnmi soul be torn so far art
That I should lie alone, and lit the tea!
Sin Francisco, California,
Kmki.ik Thai v Y. Pakkiiihst.