Thus it was on one summer's day,
While the land in its noontide slumber lay
With never a living creature near
Save a lizard, perhaps, by a cactus spear
Basking himself in the fervid heat,
Or, high aloft, like a pirate fleet,
A flock of vultures on lazy wing
Circling wide in a watchful ring,
That into the street of the desert town
A long, slow freight came rolling down,