Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OLD SQUAW HILL, by LUCY JONES TYSELL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OLD SQUAW HILL, by                    
First Line: Before the feet of white men trod
Last Line: A sentinel to guard the plain.
Subject(s): Native Americans; Native Americans - Wars; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America


Before the feet of white men trod
Upon Dakota's grassy sod,
You stood, as now, your vigil kept,
While on your summit red men crept,
To gaze on prairie land below,
Where lurked a deadly tribal foe.

Brave women, children of the Sioux,
On your green bosom fell, while you
Looked calmly on. Your furrowed brow
Was wrinkled then as it is now.
Mute, resolute, you know too well
Grim secrets that you will not tell:

How red men fought a heartless foe;
Long hours of anguish, days of woe;
How, ill and starving, through the night,
Weird war whoops filled their soul with fright;
How, overcome, the last one slain,
In your dark chambers they were lain.

To many, you are just a mound
That towers over lower ground.
To me, a living form, you stand
As some great monarch, stately, grand.
Patient, sublime you will remain
A sentinel to guard the plain.





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