| |
| OUR God commands. To fertile realms I haste, | |
| Compared with which, your gardens are a waste; | |
| There, in full bloom, eternal spring abides, | |
| And swarming fishes glide through azure tides; | |
| Continual sunshine gilds the cloudless skies, | 5 |
| No mist conceals Keesuckquand 1 from our eyes, | |
| Herds of red deer before the hunter bound, | |
| And fragrance floats along th’ enamell’d ground. | |
| There, your forefathers, dexterous with the bow, | |
| Urge the fleet chase, and o’er the greensward glow; | 10 |
| Or, in a grove recount their deeds of war, | |
| Number their scalps, and glory in each scar, | |
| Or, contemplate—their most exalted theme— | |
| The power and goodness of their chief supreme! | |
| Yet ere he goes, your Sachem will relate, | 15 |
| Your primal origin and future fate, | |
| Nor think th’ important history too long, | |
| An idle story, or a foolish song; | |
| For him, when young, his parent king inform’d, | |
| And while the impressive tale his bosom warm’d, | 20 |
| Deep in his memory sunk the truths sublime, | |
| And still their prints are unimpaired by time. | |
| Observe ye then; when summer’s heats are gone, | |
| The north wind rushes from the frozen zone, | |
| Borne by the blasts, the shivering seabirds fly | 25 |
| To milder regions and a warmer sky, | |
| Through the keen air they skim their lofty way, | |
| To where the sun beams ever genial day, | |
| And far beyond Potomac’s swelling tides, | |
| They seek the pleasant fields where God resides: | 30 |
| There, coeternal with the earth he reign’d, | |
| And a long solitary rule maintain’d; | |
| For then, these plains no verdant herbage bore, | |
| No cheerful wigwam show’d its matted door, | |
| No forests waved their foliage in the wind, | 35 |
| Nor round the chestnut clung the sheltering rind; | |
| This ample range no living creature trod, | |
| And in the universe, alone, was God! | |
| First, in his image, Manitoos he made, | |
| Inferior spirits, his designs to aid, | 40 |
| He bade Keesuckquand live in yon bright blaze, | |
| And o’er creation shed enlivening rays:— | |
| Placed Paumpagussit 2 in the heaving seas, | |
| Subjecting winds and waves to his decrees. | |
| Next in mild radiance shone the silent moon, | 45 |
| Queen of the sprites that gleam in night’s pale noon, | |
| Whose strong enchantment and mysterious spell, | |
| Can e’en the dead from their repose compel; | |
| With heat accursed dissolve our flesh away, | |
| And torture, as they mould the magic clay. | 50 |
| Yotaanit, 3 too, he form’d, who, when ’t is dark, | |
| Elicits from a stone, the precious spark, | |
| That, the poor Indian, cold and weary, warms, | |
| And cheers the tedious hours when winter storms | |
| Bid the chill’d blood through all life’s channels flow, | 55 |
| And draws a beverage pure and sweet from snow, | |
| When, bridged with ice, the stagnant rivers sleep, | |
| And cease to pour their tributes to the deep. | |
| Tempt not his rage, for dreadful is his ire, | |
| Then harvests, trees and towns ascend in fire; | 60 |
| If his consuming wrath our crimes provoke, | |
| He scatters to the winds our wealth in smoke; | |
| From him our comfort or distress proceeds, | |
| Evil or good proportioned to our deeds. | |
| Then burst our mother Earth’s prolific womb; | 65 |
| Then, groves aspired and meads began to bloom, | |
| The living streams, each mountain source to shun, | |
| Roll sparkling down, and in their courses run; | |
| The Seipmanitog, 4 confluent waters wed, | |
| And o’er the teeming soil a green luxuriance spread. | 70 |
| Next, beasts were formed, the tenants of the wood, | |
| Birds for the air, and fishes for the flood. | |
| First in the briny depth, the cumbrous whale; | |
| The eagle, yon blue eminence to scale; | |
| The wily fox, whose sense eludes our arts, | 75 |
| And venomed snake, that on the unwary darts; | |
| The reasoning beaver; and the moose we prize, | |
| Whose flesh our meat—whose skin our garb supplies; | |
| Innumerous animals of various brood, | |
| That prey with ravenous teeth, or browsing, gain their food. | 80 |
| Creation groan’d when with laborious birth, | |
| Mammoth was born to rule his parent earth,— | |
| Mammoth! I tremble while my voice recounts, | |
| His size that tower’d o’er all our misty mounts,— | |
| His weight a balance for yon pine-crowned hills, | 85 |
| On whose broad front half heaven in dew distils;— | |
| His motions forced the starry spheres to shake, | |
| The sea to rear—the solid land to quake. | |
| His breath a whirlwind. From his angry eye, | |
| Flash’d flames like fires that light the northern sky; | 90 |
| The noblest river scarce supplied him drink,— | |
| Nor food, the herds that grazed along its brink;— | |
| Trampling through forests would the monster pass, | |
| Breasting the stoutest oaks like blades of grass! | |
| Creation finished, God a sabbath kept, | 95 |
| And twice two hundred moons profoundly slept; | |
| At length, from calm and undisturbed repose, | |
| With kind intent the sire of nature rose;— | |
| Northward he bent his course, with parent care, | |
| To view his creatures and his love declare, | 100 |
| To bless the works his wisdom erst had plann’d, | |
| And with fresh bounties fill the grateful land. | |
| Hoar Paumpagussit swell’d with conscious pride, | |
| And bore the Almighty o’er each looming tide; | |
| Sweet flowering bushes sprang where’er he trod, | 105 |
| And groves, and vales, and mountains, hail’d their God; | |
| With more effulgent beams Keesuckquand shone, | |
| And lent to night a splendor like his own. | |
| Thus moved the deity. But vengeful wrath, | |
| Soon gather’d awful glooms around his path, | 110 |
| Approaching near to Mammoth’s wide domain, | |
| He view’d the ravage of the tyrant’s reign. | |
| Not the gaunt wolf, nor cougar fierce and wild, | |
| Escaped the tusks that all the fields despoil’d; | |
| No beast that ranged the valley, plain or wood, | 115 |
| Was spared by earth’s fell chief and his insatiate brood. | |
| Nor did just anger rest. Behold, a storm | |
| Of sable horrors clothe the eternal’s form. | |
| Loud thunders burst while forked lightnings dart, | |
| And each red bolt transfix’d a Mammoth’s heart, | 120 |
| Tall cedars crash’d beneath them falling prone, | |
| And heaven rebellow’d with their dying groan. | |
| So, undermined by inward fires, or time, | |
| Some craggy mount that long has tower’d sublime, | |
| Tumbles in ruins with tremendous sound, | 125 |
| And spreads a horrible destruction round; | |
| The trembling land through all its caverns roars, | |
| And ocean hoarsely draws his billows from the shores. | |
| Mammoth, meanwhile, opposed his maily hide, | |
| And shagged front, that thunderbolts defied; | 130 |
| Celestial arms from his rough dead he shook, | |
| And trampling with his hoofs, the blunted weapons broke. | |
| At length, one shaft discharged with happier aim, | |
| Pierced his huge side and wrapp’d his bulk in flame. | |
| Mad with the anguish of the burning wound, | 135 |
| With furious speed he raged along the ground, | |
| And pass’d Ohio’s billows with a bound,— | |
| Thence, o’er Wabash and Illinois he flew,— | |
| Deep to their beds the river gods withdrew, | |
| Affrighted nature trembled as he fled, | 140 |
| And God alone, continued free from dread. | |
| Mammoth in terrors—awfully sublime, | |
| Like some vast comet, blazing from our clime, | |
| Impetuous rush’d. O’er Allegany’s brow | |
| He leap’d, and howling plung’d to wilds below; | 145 |
| There, in immortal anguish he remains, | |
| No peace he knows;—no balm can ease his pains; | |
| And oft his voice appals the chieftain’s breast, | |
| Like hollow thunders murmuring from the west,— | |
| To every Sachem dreadful truths reveals, | 150 |
| And monarchs shudder at its solemn peals. | |
| Such is the punishment, by righteous fate, | |
| The dread avenger of each injured state, | |
| Reserved for tyrant chiefs, who madly dare | |
| Oppress the tribes committed to their care. | 155 |
| Almighty wrath pursues them for their deeds,— | |
| They stab their souls in every wretch that bleeds, | |
| The hideous wound eternal shall endure,— | |
| Remorse, despair,—alas, what skill can cure! * * * * * * | |
| Onega then, the forest’s fairest child, | 160 |
| Sweet as the violet, as the turtle mild, | |
| Bloom’d in her sixteenth summer’s perfect charms, | |
| And fill’d each bosom with love’s soft alarms. | |
| One favor’d youth her gentle breast inspired, | |
| One youth her heart with mutual passion fired: | 165 |
| Yet chastely tender was the virgin flame, | |
| That warm’d life’s genial current through her frame; | |
| The beauteous novice gave it friendship’s name;— | |
| Alas! too soon the maid was forced to prove, | |
| What sad misfortunes owe their birth to love. | 170 |
| Oswego, pride of Narraghanset’s plains, | |
| Tower’d as the cedar, o’er his fellow swains; | |
| His air was noble,—every motion grace,— | |
| His soul’s high valor lighten’d from his face;— | |
| Fearless of death he ranged the dangerous field, | 175 |
| And scorn’d the raging boar—or foe conceal’d, | |
| The insidious serpent in the tangled brake, | |
| Or herds of moose, whose hoofs the champaign shake | |
| Each night,—how welcome every night return’d! | |
| While his true heart with fond impatience burn’d, | 180 |
| He flew, Onega in the grove to meet, | |
| And lay his choicest trophies at her feet, | |
| To pass mild evening’s happy hours away, | |
| And rest in love’s embrace from all the toils of day. | |
| Ah mortals! reckless of approaching doom, | 185 |
| How soon the sun of pleasure sets in gloom, | |
| The fairy fields of juvenile delight, | |
| Are veiled in shades of unexpected night! | |
| One summer eve, as by a limpid stream, | |
| In pleasing converse on their darling theme, | 190 |
| Lost to the world—no truant thought had flown, | |
| To other pleasures than were their’s alone; | |
| In sweet idea rose their calm retreat, | |
| Their russet cabin—mild contentment’s seat, | |
| Where every joy concentered should create, | 195 |
| A state of bliss to mock the frowns of fate, | |
| And as the raptured mind uncheck’d could trace, | |
| Each other’s beauties in their infant race, | |
| A modest glow suffused Onega’s face. | |
| Sudden she shriek’d! Aghast the Indian swain, | 200 |
| Beheld her life-blood!—Speech and sense are vain— | |
| What words can utter what no breast can know— | |
| Murder’s first pang—and nature’s primal throe! | |
| Death instant seized his prey!—A fatal dart | |
| Pierced to the inmost fountain of her heart. | 205 |
| Oswego!—what avail’d thy speed or skill, | |
| Thy love, thy faith, to avert the blow of ill. | |
| Happy for thee had he that skill possess’d, | |
| Who aim’d the erring arrow at thy breast!— | |
| God’s mission’d Wakon 5 when her spirit fled, | 210 |
| To his abode th’ angelic stranger led, | |
| The Sire divine a gracious welcome smiled, | |
| And view’d well pleased his pure and fairest child; | |
| Companion now of him and first restored, | |
| She shines in heaven—by grateful man adored. | 215 |
| Next to the moon, she sheds her genial light, | |
| The brightest star that decks the breast of night. | |
| But when Keesuckquand rolls his orb on high, | |
| She shuns the intenser ardor of the sky, | |
| With Cawtontowwit’s love supremely blest, | 220 |
| In paradise she finds the balm of rest. | |
| O’er sad Oswego’s heart-afflicting tale, | |
| Sweet Indian girls shall many an eve bewail!— | |
| Ere yet his mind was from delirium free, | |
| The ruthless murderers bound him to a tree; | 225 |
| With cruel taunts, exulting in his wo, | |
| And savage yells they broke his useless bow,— | |
| Thus break thy heart, they cried, that love repaid, | |
| With the fond passion of the matchless maid, | |
| Now gone to heaven! Ah hadst thou fallen alone, | 230 |
| Our ears had feasted on her piteous moan— | |
| Her life protracted through long years of wo, | |
| Had caused our hearts with ecstasies to glow. | |
| No joy remains for us. Peace ne’er shall come, | |
| With scented breath to cheer our dreary home, | 235 |
| No parent’s welcome meet us at the door,— | |
| For us no feasts shall load the verdant floor, | |
| No wives or children soothe our toil or care, | |
| Ours is the deepest hell of black despair. | |
| We fly from this ensanguined scene, and leave | 240 |
| Our fathers, mothers, sisters, friends to grieve; | |
| Die then, before we go! and taste a joy | |
| We cannot covet, witness or destroy— | |
| A friendly tomax then like lightning driven, | |
| Released Oswego’s soul—it flew to love and heaven! | 245 |
| This deed of death perform’d, the vagrant band, | |
| Sojourn’d in exile to a distant land, | |
| And near Ontario’s hoarsely murmuring wave | |
| They form’d a tribe,—blood-thirsty, bold and brave: | |
| At length, in justice to Oswego’s fame, | 250 |
| They gave their council town his deathless name— | |
| And long as Onondaga’s waters flow, | |
| Shall live th’ effects of murder—war and wo;— | |
| Deep in our woods and round our rock-bound coasts, | |
| Shall rage, alas! their mad infuriate hosts, | 255 |
| And transient peace, but deadlier vigor yield | |
| To rush with wilder vengeance to the field. | |
| Hence, train’d to arms our strong and dauntless bands | |
| Yell the loud war-whoop through offending lands; | |
| Snuff the red smoke that mantles o’er the plain, | 260 |
| Crimson’d with gore and reeking with the slain, | |
| Till full revenge hath satisfied our wrongs, | |
| And the clouds echo with triumphant songs. | |
