The Dying Indian's Dream: A PoemRand, Silas Tertius
Religion
The Dying Indian's Dream: A Poem
Rand, Silas Tertius
Indians of North America -- Poetry
Heaven seemed to him to be an immense great
palace, as large as this world, all formed of gold. He saw there the
glorious Redeemer, surrounded by an immense Host of Saints and Angels,
all drest in white. As he entered he thought they gathered round him and
shouted: JOHN PAUL has come! =John Paul= has come!” The poor
fellow did not die until the following morning, and just before he died
he looked up towards heaven, and declared that he saw the angels, and
the Glory of God. He was astonished that the others could not see what
he saw. He wanted them to hold up his children, that they might see the
wonders that he himself saw. He then sank back on his pillow and quietly
expired.
It will be thus seen that the following Poem is not a work of _fiction_.
It aims to relate—with some license of imagination, of course, else it
would not be poetry—a plain historical fact. The description of Paul’s
skill and knowledge as a hunter, and in managing their frail little
water-crafts in a sea, is literally true of many of the Indians, and was
true of him. His peace of mind in committing his family into the hands
of God, after he found himself disabled, having burst a blood vessel by
carrying a large load, from which he never recovered—he related to me:
and this is expressed in the prayer put into his mouth at the close,
“which we did not fully _hear_ or _share_.”
It may be added that after the Poem was written, I read it to the Indian
who gave me the account of John Paul’s death, and as he spoke the
English language well, he had no difficulty in understanding it. And he
assured me that it described the scene correctly.
I may add that the _measure_—or rather the utter disregard of all
regular measure—was suggested by an old poem I saw somewhere,
describing a very different scene, and the “wildness” of it appealed to
me to be just suited to a scene of the _Wilderness_ and the _wigwam_.
It will not surely be deemed a very great stretch of “poetic license” to
represent oneself as an eye- and ear-witness of a scene, with the
surroundings of which he was so familiar, and which had been so vividly
described by those who really _were_ present.
Nor need we speculate about the cause of dreams or their significance.
No one will deny that they may be a very exact index of the state of
mind at the time, of the one who dreams. And the earnest prayer of the
writer, is, that the reader of these verses, and himself, may be, at the
time of our departure, so full of joy and peace in believing, that
whether waking or dreaming, we may “rejoice with that joy which is
unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of our faith, even the
salvation of our souls.”
SILAS T. RAND.
Hantsport, N. S.
[Illustration]
The Dying Indian’s Dream.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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