Poem by Joaquin (Cincinnatus Hiner) Miller

Juanita

You will come, my bird, Bonita?
Come! For I by steep and stone
Have built such nest for you, Juanita,
As not eagle bird hath known.

  Rugged! Rugged as Parnassus!        
Rude, as all roads I have trod—
Yet are steeps and stone-strewn passes
Smooth o’erhead, and nearest God.

  Here black thunders of my cañon
Shake its walls in Titan wars!        
Here white sea-born clouds companion
With such peaks as know the stars!

  Here madrona, manzanita—
Here the snarling chaparral
House and hang o’er steeps, Juanita,        
Where the gaunt wolf loved to dwell!

  Dear, I took these trackless masses
Fresh from Him who fashioned them;
Wrought in rock, and hewed fair passes,
Flower set, as sets a gem.        

  Aye, I built in woe. God willed it;
Woe that passeth ghosts of guilt;
Yet I built as His birds builded—
Builded, singing as I built.

  All is finished! Roads of flowers        
Wait your loyal little feet.
All completed? Nay, the hours
Till you come are incomplete.

  Steep below me lies the valley,
Deep below me lies the town,        
Where great sea-ships ride and rally,
And the world walks up and down.

  O, the sea of lights far streaming
When the thousand flags are furled—
When the gleaming bay lies dreaming        
As it duplicates the world!

  You will come, my dearest, truest?
Come, my sovereign queen of ten;
My blue skies will then be bluest;
My white rose be whitest then:        

  Then the song! Ah, then the sabre
Flashing up the walls of night!
Hate of wrong and love of neighbor—
Rhymes of battle for the Right!

1. At the Grave of Walker
2. In Père la Chaise
3. Sea-Blown
4. Yosemite
5. To Russia

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