Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/505

however, during those twenty years, the Goddess of Poetry, with compassion for his long labors and devotion, rewarded him with the grace of her radiance. It was then that he wrote such poems as “The Chinook Wind,” “Cliff of Tillamook” and “Memaloose Island,” all included in Tales and Other Verse.

Memaloose Island

Where swift Columbia seaward rolls,
 Between its ramparts sere and grand,
Began the fabled bridge of souls
 That spirits crossed to Tamath land;
Bleak Memaloose it rested on,
 That rock is still its earthly pier,
Clothed with a myth of Oregon
 Which bids no passer linger near.

There cold winds blow and whistle through
 The lampless skulls upon the rock;
There sightless eyes look up at you,
 The dry bones seem to move and mock.
The night falls down, the beating waves
 Are chanting ghostly music then,
The sand is rattling o'er the graves,
 And souls recross the bridge again.

Alone, alone the stranger stands,
 He sees the slender bridge of thread,
He feels the touch of Spirit hands,
 He sees the spirits of the dead;
The skulls are lit, the bones arise,
 The waves and winds in stillness seem,
He looks no more on lampless eyes,
 He hears a chant which ends a scream.

There herons boom their startled flight,
 The prairie wolf howls near the rock,
And gaunt coyotes wake the night
 With cries which might death’s gate unlock.
Though sunlight shines upon the crest
 Though starlight gleams upon the sand,