THE INDIAN GIRL'S LAMENT. AN Indian girl was sitting where "I've pulled away the shrubs that grew Too close above thy sleeping head, And broke the forest boughs that threw Their shadows o'er thy bed, That, shining from the sweet south-west, The sunbeams might rejoice thy rest. 'It was a weary, weary road That led thee to the pleasant coast, Hast met thy father's ghost; (6 'Twas I the broidered mocsen made, That shod thee for that distant land; 'Twas I thy bow and arrows laid Beside thy still cold hand; Thy bow in many a battle bent, Thy arrows never vainly sent. "With wampum belts I crossed thy breast, And wrapped thee in the bison's hide, And laid the food that pleased thee best, In plenty, by thy side, And decked thee bravely, as became A warrior of illustrious name. "Thou'rt happy now, for thou hast passed The long dark journey of the grave, And in the land of light, at last, Hast joined the good and brave; Amid the flushed and balmy air, The bravest and the loveliest there. "Yet, oft to thine own Indian maid Even there thy thoughts will earthward stray, To her who sits where thou wert laid, And weeps the hours away, Yet almost can her grief forget, To think that thou dost love her yet. "And thou, by one of those still lakes On which the south wind scarcely breaks A bower for thee and me hast made Beneath the many-colored shade. "And thou dost wait and watch to meet My spirit sent to join the blest, And, wondering what detains my feet From the bright land of rest, Dost seem, in every sound, to hear The rustling of my footsteps near" ODE FOR AN AGRICULTURAL CELE BRATION. FAR back in the ages, The plough with wreaths was crowned; The hands of kings and sages Entwined the chaplet round ; Till men of spoil disdained the toil The guilt that stains her story; And weeps her crimes amid the cares That formed her earliest glory. |