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.