Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE INDIAN WITH HIS DEAD CHILD, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In the silence of the midnight Last Line: My father's path I tread. Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea Subject(s): Death - Children; Native Americans; Death - Babies; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America | ||||||||
IN the silence of the midnight I journey with my dead; In the darkness of the forest-boughs A lonely path I tread. But my heart is high and fearless, As by mighty wings upborne; The mountain eagle hath not plumes So strong as love and scorn. I have raised thee from the grave sod, By the white man's path defiled; On to the ancestral wilderness I bear thy dust, my child! I have asked the ancient deserts To give my dead a place, Where the stately footsteps of the free Alone should leave a trace. And the tossing pines made answer -- "Go, bring us back thine own!" And the streams from all the hunters' hills Rushed with an echoing tone. Thou shalt rest by sounding waters That yet untamed may roll; The voices of that chainless host With joy shall fill thy soul. In the silence of the midnight I journey with the dead, Where the arrows of my father's bow Their falcon flight have sped. I have left the spoilers' dwellings For evermore behind; Unmingled with their household sounds, For me shall sweep the wind. Alone, amidst their hearth-fires, I watched my child's decay; Uncheered, I saw the spirit-light From his young eyes fade away. When his head sank on my bosom, When the death-sleep o'er him fell, Was there one to say, "A friend is near?" There was none! -- pale race, farewell! To the forests, to the cedars, To the warrior and his bow, Back, back! -- I bore thee laughing thence, I bear thee slumbering now! I bear thee unto burial With the mighty hunters gone; I shall hear thee in the forest-breeze, Thou wilt speak of joy, my son! In the silence of the midnight I journey with the dead; But my heart is strong, my step is fleet, My father's path I tread. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE OLD INDIAN by ARTHUR STANLEY BOURINOT SCHOLARLY PROCEDURE by JOSEPHINE MILES ONE LAST DRAW OF THE PIPE by PAUL MULDOON THE INDIANS ON ALCATRAZ by PAUL MULDOON PARAGRAPHS: 9 by HAYDEN CARRUTH THEY ACCUSE ME OF NOT TALKING by HAYDEN CARRUTH AMERICAN INDIAN ART: FORM AND TRADITION by DIANE DI PRIMA A DIRGE (1) by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS |
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