Page:Bierce - Collected Works - Volume 04.djvu/154

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
148
THE COLLECTED WORKS

Those ills 'tis easy to endure
That light upon and sting another—
That's Christian fortitude; but sure
There's somewhere an account of your
Least feeling toward a hapless brother.
Himself may show by deed and speech
Less racial sympathies than tribal,
But—well, this is no place to preach;
The sermon's mostly in the Bible.

We're false to trust and quick to spy
The fissure in a friendly armor,
Even Freedom can no more rely
Upon our promise not to harm her.
O Guardian of Continents,
My country! shall that evil dower,
The passion for preëminence.
Cry from thy seaward battlements
A soul already drunk with power?
1903.


FOR EXPULSION

They say, Brig. Roberts, you have seven wives,
And every one a beauty! As to that
I'm not informed; in the domestic hives
Of Utah, where I've sometimes hung my hat,