2 9 6 MY LIFE 



" Song of the Cayman. 



(Written, 1850.) 



" Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold : 

 Thou hast no speculation in those eyes 

 Which thou dost glare with." 



" I bask in the waveless waters 



When the sun is shining on high, 

 Watching the Indian children 



With a grim and greedy eye ; 

 Woe to the careless bather 



Who ventures where I lie. 



" I float on the midnight waters 



With my deathly demon head; 

 My skin is an iron armour 



Which flattens the hunter's lead; 

 And my eyes are a living terror, 



Glassy as those of the dead. 



" I hear the house-dog prowling, 

 And without a ripple sink; 

 Down to the stream he cometh 



And enters the water to drink, 

 I rise again as noiseless 

 And seize him on the brink. 



" I dwell not in rushing waters, 



But in woodland pool and lake, 

 Where the cowfish and the turtle 



Lie sleeping neath the brake; 

 I seize the senseless dreamers, 



And a merry meal I make. 



" Midnight deeds have I witness'd, 



But never shudder'd to see. 

 Tremble not, thou murderer pale ! 



Go ! leave the corpse to me, 

 And not a hair or a whiten'd bone 



I'll leave to speak of thee." 



I preserve the next little poem because I feel sure that the 

 first three verses were inspired by the memories of his child- 



