Cherokee Phoenix

POETRY

Published November, 12, 1831

Page 3 Column 1a

POETRY

From the Washington Spectator.

We have received the following from a friend of the author. We present it as the remonstrance of a chief Representative of the former friend of the Indians.--Ed. Spec.

THE EXILE OF THE INDIANS.

By G.W.P. Curtis, Esq. of Arlington. inscribed to Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney.

'The Eagle suffers little birds to sing.'-Shak.

_______

1.

Has the fiat gone forth? Must the poor

Indian

Afar from the heaths and the tombs of his sires,

And, seeking in some distant region a home,

Again in a Wilderness kindle his fires?

II.

And shall He, who sits on the bright throne

of Heav'n

With all human kind in his parental care,

Be deaf to the plaint of the Red Man, thus

driv'n

Away from his birthright? My country beware!

III.

The Indian's degenerate-no longer the bold.

The proud Forest Chief, who, before his sad fall,

Had a world for his empire--and he, uncontroll'd

The lordly possessor, and monarch of all.

IV.

He has fallen, indeed, from his once high estate,

The gleam of big glory forever has faded,

And will no generous spirits now pity his fate

A Noble of Nature thus lowly degraded?

V.

Aiknomac was lofty when first to his shore

Came sea beaten strangers. He hast'ned

to meet them.

Bade them enter the wigwam, and share

in its store,

And the right hand of friendship extended

to greet them.

IV.

When _______ these first hardy mariners

sent

The perils of unvoyaged oceans to brave,

They found a rude people, mild, happy,

content,

'Mid blessings and bounties a Providence

gave.

Volume 2, .

They planted the Cross, bade the savage

adore it,

As the emblem of Peace and Salvation to

man,

Then slew the poor natives, while kneeling

before it,

And by rapine completed what Treachery

began.

Volume 3, .

'Twas thus did these pallid adventures

unfold

Why left they fair regions where all Nature

smiled,

New worlds to discover, in search of their

fold,

And to conquer a world where all Nature

was wild.

IX

Then the Indian aroused him, and daring

the strife,

With valor that shone in his fame's early

morning.

He fought for his country with 'war to

the knife'

The danger and death-stroke undauntedly

scorning.

X.

Ah vain was his courage, the victor's keen brand

Has hewn 'mong the Red Men so wide a

space,

That soon on Pacific's lone desolate stand,

Will wander one of the last of a once

mighty race.

XI.

For shame, Oh my country-be noble and

just,

The Indians. Oh think of how much

thou'st bereft them.

Then cease still to tread these poor worms

to the dust,

To wring from their remnant the little

you've left them.

XII

Is our empire so small, that, from absolute

need,

We wrest from the Savage, his dreary

domain

That 'enriches, not us, but makes him

poor indeed,'

And all from the lust of dominion and gain.

XIII.

Where, where is your Chief, who the

Red man befriended,

That wisest in council, the braves of the brave?

He sleeps in the soil that his valor he

fended,

The tears of the Red Man still fall on his

grave.

XIV.

When the Indians were humbled, and

Low bent the knee.

Their Great father was touched by the

woes that distress'd them,

Bade them go to their deserts, be happy

and free,

Nor fear that the White Man would ever

molest them.

XV.

The Eagle should suffer the red bird to

sing,

Mid haunts in the forests, and on the

wild shore,

And shelter beneath her magnificent wing,

The poor native songsters, that will soon

sing no more.