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(From Guy Vernon)
AT last he seemed to lose it altogether | |
| Upon the Mississippi; where he stayed | |
| His course at Memphis, undecided whether | |
| He should go back or forward. Here he strayed | |
| One afternoon along the esplanade | 5 |
| And high bluff of the river-fronting town, | |
| To watch the boats and see the sun go down. | |
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| The lyric fit had left him; but the sight | |
| Of the strong river sweeping vast and slow, | |
| Gleaming far off, a flood of crimson light; | 10 |
| And, darkly hung between it and the glow | |
| Of a most lovely sunset sky, the low, | |
| Interminable forests of Arkansas, | |
| Might have inspired some very pretty stanzas. | |
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| The esplanade looks down upon the landing, | 15 |
| A broadly shelving bank, well trodden and bare, | |
| Called by a singular misunderstanding | |
| The levee,—while there is no levee there; | |
| The famous landing at New Orleans, where | |
| There is one, having fixed the name forever | 20 |
| For that and other landings on the river. | |
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| Acres of merchandise, of cotton-bales, | |
| And bales of hay, awaiting transportation; | |
| Ploughs, household goods, and kegs of rum or nails, | |
| Endless supplies for village and plantation, | 25 |
| Enclosed a scene of wondrous animation, | |
| Of outcry and apparent wild confusion | |
| Contrasting with the sunset’s soft illusion;— | |
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| The steamers lying broadside to the stream, | |
| With delicately pillared decks, the clang | 30 |
| Of bells, the uproar of escaping steam; | |
| There, tugging at some heavy rope, the gang | |
| Of slaves that all together swayed and sang, | |
| Their voices rising in a wild, rich chime, | |
| To which lithe forms and lithe black arms kept time; | 35 |
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| The shouts of negro-drivers, droves of mules, | |
| Driven in their turn by madly yelling blacks; | |
| Chairs, tables, kitchen-ware and farming-tools, | |
| Carts, wagons, barrels, boxes, bales, and sacks, | |
| Pushed, hauled, rolled, tumbled, tossed, or borne on backs | 40 |
| Of files of men, across the ways of plank | |
| Between the loading steamers and the bank! | |
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| Then as the sunlight faded from the stream, | |
| And deepening shadows cooled the upper air, | |
| The waves were lighted by the lurid gleam | 45 |
| Of flamebeaux that began to smoke and flare, | |
| And cast a picturesque and ruddy glare | |
| On shore and boats and men of every hue. | |
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