Black Beetles in Amber

Though war-signs fail in time of peace, they say,

Two awful portents gloom the public mind:

All Mexico is arming for the fray

And Colonel Mark McDonald has resigned!

We know not by what instinct he divined

The coming trouble—may be, like the steed

Described by Job, he smelled the fight afar.

Howe'er it be, he left, and for that deed

Is an aspirant to the G.A.R.

When cannon flame along the Rio Grande

A citizen's commission will be handy.