Classic Poem

Occidental

Westward the unsuspected continent sprawls heavily across the face of the planet,
Changing the colors of its forest robe by seasons,
Flashing the white jewels of its lake-necklace.
Sliding forever from the sunset
The grey-green surface of the Earth-star
Hurtles its giant arch from west to east:
Serpent mounds unroll their " S " scars along the Ohio,
The stag-branched artery of rivers drains unhampered to the gulf,
Smoke of grass fires drifts across the prairies,
Red-men follow clouds of buffalo with stone-tipped arrows,
Cliff-men scamper up and down stone ladders,
Priests peer from the black mouths of kivas to salute the sun, — the sun
That glittering upon the spines of the Rockies,
Watches the white crests darken eastward,
Beholds the slag slide down the sides of Shasta,
And leaves the land, —
To see his face disced in a trillion tangents
Following westward and westward across the waves of the widest of oceans.
YET UNDER THE BRANCHES RUNS THE INDIAN TRAIL,
EARTH BEATEN BY THE BUFFALO MOCCASINS —
EARTH REMEMBERING, TREMBLING IN THE MOONLIGHT.