Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CHILD OF THE FORESTS; WRITTEN AFTER READING JOHN HUNTER, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS


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THE CHILD OF THE FORESTS; WRITTEN AFTER READING JOHN HUNTER, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Is not thy heart far off amidst the wood
Last Line: Seek not the deserts and the woods again!
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Forests; Native Americans; Woods; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America


Is not thy heart far off amidst the woods,
Where the Red Indian lays his father's dust,
And, by the rushing of the torrent floods,
To the Great Spirit bows in silent trust?
Doth not thy soul o'ersweep the foaming main,
To pour itself upon the wilds again?

They are gone forth, the desert's warrior race,
By stormy lakes to track the elk and roe;
But where art thou, the swift one in the chase,
With thy free footstep and unfailing bow?
Their singing shafts have reached the panther's lair,
And where art thou? -- thine arrows are not there.

They rest beside their streams -- the spoil is won --
They hang their spears upon the cypress bough;
The night-fires blaze, the hunter's work is done --
They hear the tales of old -- but where art thou?
The night-fires blaze beneath the giant pine,
And there a place is filled that once was thine.

For thou art mingling with the city's throng,
And thou hast thrown thine Indian bow aside;
Child of the forests! thou art borne along,
E'en as ourselves, by life's tempestuous tide.
But will this be? and canst thou here find rest?
Thou hadst thy nature on the desert's breast.

Comes not the sound of torrents to thine ear
From the savanna-land, the land of streams?
Hearest thou not murmurs which none else may hear?
Is not the forest's shadow on thy dreams?
They call -- wild voices call thee o'er the main,
Back to thy free and boundless woods again.

Hear them not! hear them not! -- thou canst not find
In the far wilderness what once was thine!
Thou hast quaffed knowledge from the founts of mind,
And gathered loftier aims and hopes divine.
Thou knowest the soaring thought, the immortal strain --
Seek not the deserts and the woods again!





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