THE NIGHTMARE.
“Sure he was sent from heaven express to be the pillar of the State;
So terrible his name, ‘Clintonian’ nurses frightened children with it.”
reaming, last night, of Pierre Van Wyck,
I felt the nightmare creeping o’er me;
In vain I strove to speak or strike,
The horrid form was still before me;
Till panting—struggling to be free,
I raised my weak but desperate head,
And faintly muttered “John Targee!”
When—with a howl—the goblin fled.
I waked and cried in glad surprise:
“The man is found ordained by Fate
To break our bonds, and exorcise
The nightmare of the sleeping State.
He’ll chase the demons great and small;
They’ll sink his withering gaze before.
Then rouse! ye Sachems at the Hall,
And nominate him Governor.
“Up with the name on Freedom’s cause,
Inscribe it, Bucktails, on your banner;
