THE dove of Liberty sat on an
egg
And hatched
another eagle.
But didn’t disown the bird.
Down with all
eagles! cooed the Dove.
And down all eagles began to flutter, reeling
from their
perches:
Eagles with two heads, eagles with one,
presently eagles
with none
Fell from the hooks and were
dead.
Till the American Eagle was the only eagle left in the world.
Then it began to fidget, shifting
from one leg to the other,
Trying to look like a pelican,
And plucking out of his plumage
a few loose feathers to
feather the nests of
all
The new naked
little republics come into the world.
But the feathers were,
comparatively, a mere flea-bite.
And the bub-eagle that Liberty had hatched was
growing a
startling big bird
On the roof of the
world;
A bit
awkward, and with a funny squawk in his voice,
His mother Liberty trying
always to teach him to coo
And him always ending with a yawp
Coo! Coo!
Coo! Coo-ark! Coo-ark! Quark!! Quark!!
YAWP!!!
So he clears his throat, the young Cock-eagle!
Now if the lilies of France lick
Solomon in all his glory;
And the leopard cannot change his
spots;
Nor the
British lion his appetite;
Neither can a young Cock-eagle sit
simpering
With an
olive-sprig in his mouth.
It’s not his nature.
The big bird of the Amerindian being
the eagle,
Red Men
still stick themselves over with bits of his fluff,
And feel absolutely
IT.
So better make up your mind,
American Eagle,
Whether you’re a sucking dove, Roo — coo —
ooo! Quark!
Yawp!!
Or a pelican
Handing out a few loose golden
breast-feathers, at moulting
time;
Or a sort of
prosperity-gander
Fathering endless ten-dollar golden eggs.
Or whether it actually is an eagle
you are,
With a
Roman nose
And claws
not made to shake hands with,
And a Me-Almighty eye.
The new Proud Republic
Based on the mystery of
pride.
Overweening
men, full of power of life, commanding a
teeming obedience.
Eagle of the Rockies, bird of men
that are masters,
Lifting the rabbit-blood of the myriads up into
something
splendid,
Leaving a few bones;
Opening great wings in the face
of the sheep-faced ewe
Who is losing her lamb,
Drinking a little blood, and
loosing another royalty unto the
world.
Is that you, American Eagle?
Or are you the goose that lays the
golden egg?
Which is
just a stone to anyone asking for meat.
And are you going to go on for
ever
Laying that
golden egg,
That
addled golden egg?