| Samuel Kettell, ed. Specimens of American Poetry. 1829. | | | | Pocahontas | | By Moses Y. Scott |
| | | RUDE 1 was the storm, and her fallen hair | |
| Stream’d in the gale from her bosom bare; | |
| As alone, through the forest’s blacken’d shade, | |
| On errand of fear came the Indian maid. | |
| |
| Wild was her look; but her eye was bright | 5 |
| With the melting beam of Mercy’s light— | |
| Her speech was hurried; but kindness hung | |
| On the accents bland of her warning tongue. | |
| |
| “White men, beware of Havoc’s sweep! | |
| He is waked in the forest, from sullen sleep— | 10 |
| He would drink your blood, in a guardless hour, | |
| And your wives and slumbering babes devour. | |
| |
| “Beware!—for, the tempest, chain’d so long, | |
| Shall burst tonight, in its fury strong— | |
| The trees must root them against its sway, | 15 |
| And their branches cling, or be scatter’d away! | |
| |
| “The fire shall rage; for, the breeze is blowing— | |
| The smoke rolls hither—the flames are glowing; | |
| They climb the hills; to the vales they spread— | |
| The night is black; but the forest is red. | 20 |
| |
| “White men, beware!—And when at last, | |
| Your fears are dead, and your dangers past, | |
| Shall the voice of the warner be e’er betray’d— | |
| Shall white men forget the Indian maid?” | |
| | | Note 1. Scott, author of The Fatal Jest, and other pieces, published at New York, in 1819. [back] | | |
|
|
|
