The Copperhead

There is peace in the swamp where the Copperhead sleeps,     Where the waters are stagnant, the white vapor creeps,     Where the musk of Magnolia hangs thick in the air,     And the lilies phylacteries broaden in prayer.     There is peace in the swamp, though the quiet is death,     Though the mist is miasma, the upas-trees breath,     Though no echo awakes to the cooing of doves,     There is peace: yes, the peace that the Copperhead loves.     Go seek him: he coils in the ooze and the drip,     Like a thong idly flung from the slave-drivers whip;     But beware the false footstep, the stumble that brings     A deadlier lash than the overseer swings.     Never arrow so true, never bullet so dread,     As the straight steady stroke of that hammer-shaped head;     Whether slave or proud planter, who braves that dull crest,     Woe to him who shall trouble the Copperheads rest!     Then why waste your labors, brave hearts and strong men,     In tracking a trail to the Copperheads den?     Lay your axe to the cypress, hew open the shade     To the free sky and sunshine Jehovah has made;     Let the breeze of the North sweep the vapors away,     Till the stagnant lake ripples, the freed waters play;     And then to your heel can you righteously doom     The Copperhead born of its shadow and gloom!