Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO A DEAD PEMBINA WARRIOR, by LEW SARETT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO A DEAD PEMBINA WARRIOR, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Slumbering warrior-souls, afloat
Last Line: To a land of peaceful slumbers and friendly council fires.
Subject(s): Native Americans; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America


Killed by Indians in hostile territory and given by
his enemies a tree-burial; i. e., wrapped in a bundle
of birch bark and placed in the crotch of a tree.

Slumbering warrior-soul, afloat
Upon the seas of night,
In your ghostly birchen boat,
Anchored upon the black limb,
And etched against the white
Of the broken hunter's moon --
O warrior-spirit, dark and dim,
Draped with festoon
Of moss, and shielded by lancing pines
That ring their ragged lines
Around the somber swamp --
Sleep without fear in your birchen shroud,
Sleep with a heart secure, and proud
In your ghostly chieftain's pomp.
Know that the iron-hearted mountain-ash
Lifts you with mighty arms
Up to the proud flash
Of the moon, holds you high
In the unconquered sky,
Safe in a starry cache,
Safe from the little harms
Of the little peoples of the earth.
Through soundless nights, with ghostly mirth
Echoing your crimson scalping-cry
From peak to brooding peak,
The lonely wolf will speak
Of your valiant deeds and many wars.
When white Bee-boan shall heap
His snowy avalanche --
Soft as the down of the Canada goose --
In tufted drifts and bars
On the black branch,
To keep you warm in winter-sleep --
The wild feet of the stars,
Mirrored upon the frozen snow,
Will dance for you, row on row;
And when the hoary spruce
Bends on your head,
To whisper soft lullabies, to weep
Sweet songs for the dead --
Lo! out of the white deep
Of night, the winter wind will sweep
Down on your birchen bed,
To wrap its arms about your clay,
To carry you away,
To the land of your desires,
To the country whence you came
Like a devastating flame,
Back to the country of your sires,
To a land of peaceful slumbers and friendly council fires.





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