Here once the endless wagon-trains
Brought hides of shaggy buffalo,
And brown adventurers raced by,
Trampling the April flower-snow.

Here once that columns hurried forth,
Against the steady southern gale,
Their guides, the friendly Tonkawas,
To find a red Comanche-trail.

The dove calls where the bugles sang,
The cactus-flower lifts a bell,
Where soldiers drilled, mesquites parade,
The mocking-bird is sentinel.