Gift books; Indians of North America -- Literary collections
At evening how often will come
The wild deer to drink and to rest;
Till frightened away by the nighthawk's loud scream,
They flee to the shades where the wood spirits dream,
And sink to repose by the moonlight's fair beam,
Like the babe by its mother's soft smile lulled to rest.
And here does the tall warrior stand,
With the maiden he loves by his side!
He tells her to list while the fairies do quaff
Their cupful, and shout, and then wildly laugh,
For they know that she leans on his love like a staff,
Which will ever support her in life's changing tide.
'Twould be well, did ye weep, waters bright!
Soon no more to thy banks will they come,--
The maiden who loves, or the warrior so brave,
The wild deer at eve, in thy waters to lave,
The song-bird to dip its bright wing in thy wave,
When the shadows that fall with the night are all gone.
The Indian's reproach ye might hear,
Did ye listen, fair waves, to the sound!
Are you gay, when you know of the tears we have shed,
When profaned are the graves of our fathers long dead,
When haunted our lands, by the white man's proud tread,
As he passes o'er rock and o'er prairie and mound?
For ages we've loved thy fair stream!
No more can we claim thee, no more
Will the warrior sing his war-song in thy ears,
Will the mother who comes for her child to shed tears,
Will the maiden who prays to the spirit she fears,
Gaze on thy bright waves, or rest by thy shore?
O-KO-PEE.
A MIGHTY HUNTER OF THE SIOUX.
BY MRS. MARY EASTMAN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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