Classic Poem

" Where do the waters go that go
To the sands of bleached Mojave? "
I asked of an ancient Indian man
(Lingering trace of his vanished race):
" Do they sink in the sand
To the underland? "
With never a bend of his stately head,
Nor look, or the lurk of a smile, he said:

" ┬┐Quien sabe? "

" Surely thou knowest, thou primal man!
Brood of the desert's birth, and ban, —
Wise as the rattlesnake, old as the sun,
Where do the rivers run that run
To the sands of thy grim Mojave?
Do they sink in the sand
To the underland? —
Down where the red volcano's glow
Lieth await for the underflow?
Down where the salt-sea left its scum
When the earth was void and the deep was dumb? "

" ┬┐Quien sabe? "