Diablo frowns, as above him I pass, Still loftier heights to attain; Calaveras' groves are but blades of grass-- Yosemite's sentinel peaks a mass Of ant-hills dotting a plain! Sierra Nevada's shroud of snow, And Utah's desert of sand, Shall never again turn backward the flow Of that human tide which may come and go To the vales of the sunset land! Wherever the coy earth veils her face With tresses of forest hair; Where polar pallors her blushes efface, Or tropical blooms lend her beauty and grace-- I can flutter my plumage there! Where the Amazon rolls through a mystical land-- Where Chiapas buried her dead-- Where Central Australian deserts expand-- Where Africa seethes in saharas of sand-- Even there shall my pinions spread! No longer shall earth with her secrets beguile, For I, with undazzled eyes, Will trace to their sources the Niger and Nile, And stand without dread on the boreal isle, The Colon of the skies! Then hurrah for the wings that never tire-- For the sinews that never quail; For the heart that throbs in a bosom of fire-- For the lungs whose cast-iron lobes respire When the eagle's breath would fail! [Decoration] XXVIII. _LOST AND FOUND._ 'Twas eventide in Eden. The mortals stood, Watchful and solemn, in speechless sorrow bound. He was erect, defiant, and unblenched. Tho' fallen, free--deceived, but not undone. She leaned on him, and drooped her pensive brow In token of the character she bore-- _The world's first penitent_. Tears, gushing fast, Streamed from her azure eyes; and as they fled Beyond the eastern gate, where gleamed the swords Of guarding Cherubim, the flowers themselves Bent their sad heads, surcharged with dewy tears, Wept by the stare o'er man's immortal woe. Far had they wandered, slow had been the pace, Grief at his heart and ruin on her face, Ere Adam turned to contemplate the spot Where Earth began, where Heaven was forgot. He gazed in silence, till the crystal wall Of Eden trembled, as though doomed to fall: Then bidding Eve direct her tear-dimmed eye To where the foliage kissed the western sky, They saw, with horror mingled with surprise, The wall, the garden, and the foliage rise! Slowly it mounted to the vaulted dome, And paused as if to beckon mortals home; Then, like a cloud when winds are all at rest, It floated gently to the distant west, And left behind a crimson path of light, By which to track the Garden in its flight! Day after day, the exiles wandered on, With eyes still fixed, where Eden's smile last shone; Forlorn and friendless through the wilds they trod, Remembering Eden, but forgetting God, Till far across the sea-washed, arid plain, The billows thundered that the search was vain!