@3A Chippewa Love Song@1 Ai-yee! my Yellow-Bird-Woman, My ne-ne -- moosh, ai-yee! my Loved-One, Be not afraid of my eyes! Beat against me no longer; Come! Come with a yielding of limbs. Ai-yee! woman, woman, Trembling there in the teepee Like the doe in the season of rutting, Why foolishly fearest thou me? Beat against me no longer! Be not afraid of my eyes! Cast the strange doubts from thy bosom! Be not as the flat-breasted squaw-sich Who feels the first womanly yearnings And hides, by the law of our people, Alone three sleeps in the forest; Be not as that brooding young maiden Who wanders forlorn in the cedars, And slumbers with troubled dreams, To awaken suddenly, fearing The hot throbbing blood in her bosom, The strange eager life in her limbs. Ai-yee! foolish one, woman, Cast the strange fears from thy heart! Wash the red shame from thy face! Be not afraid of my glances! Be as the young silver birch In the Moon-of-the-Green-Growing-Grasses -- Who sings with the thrill of the sap As it leaps to the south wind's caresses; Who yields her rain-swollen buds To the kiss of the sun with glad dancing. Be as the cool tranquil moon Who flings off her silver-blue blanket To bare her white breast to the pine; Who walks through the many-eyed night In her gleaming white nudeness With proud eyes that will not look down. Be as the sun in her glory, Who dances across the blue day, And flings her red soul, fierce-burning, Into the arms of the twilight. Ai-yee! foolish one, woman, Be as the sun and the moon! Cast the strange doubts from thy bosom! Wash the red shame from thy face! Thou art a woman, a woman! Beat against me no longer! Be not afraid of my eyes! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BOOK OF MARTYRS by EMILY DICKINSON THE CASTLE OF CHILLON by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON THE HIGH TIDE AT GETTYSBURG [JULY 3, 1863] by WILL HENRY THOMPSON TO THE MOCKINGBIRD by RICHARD HENRY WILDE PROMETHEUS BOUND: PROMETHEUS by AESCHYLUS THE LOST GODS ABIDING by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |