XIX] 



"IN MEMORIAM 



295 



" 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 

 childhood, while the conclusion indicates those deeper 

 feelings still more dominant in that which follows it. 



