The Ice-King of the South

Listen to:

The Ice-King of the South [excerpt] (1:44)

by Cotton Noe 

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode

He came, proud monarch of the Land of Snows,

Triumphant, in his argent chariot, decked

With jewels mined in regions of the polar zones!

He came! his fifty snowy steeds were swift

As howling north-winds, and their flowing manes

Were flecked with diamonds brighter than Brazilian stones!

He came! To celebrate his triumph, first

He spread a fleecy mantle o'er the earth—

A frozen shroud symbolic of the Death he wrought.

And then to every pendent branch he hung

A glittering sword,—the tyrant's right to rule,—

Demanding greater homage than ever warrior sought.
More brilliant pageant than the Ice-King's in

The Land of Flowers, never graced return

Of oriental monarch from victorious wars.

But oh! beneath the sparkle and the gleam

Of crystal beauty beats an icy heart,

And a sullen silence his splendid triumph mars;

The waterfalls that leap from jutting ledge

In happy song, are speechless as the tomb,

And every melody that haunts the woods and streams

Has vanished from the earth, and Nature's voice

That erstwhile woke the matin in the mead

Is silent now as music of forgotten dreams.