Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


INDIANS (DEERFIELD MEMORIAL HALL) by LEONORA SPEYER

Poem Explanation

First Line: DULCIMER, PLAY ME A LITTLE TUNE
Last Line: PRAISE BE FOR THE STORY'S END!
Subject(s): DEERFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS; MASSACRES; NATIVE AMERICANS; INDIANS OF AMERICA; AMERICAN INDIANS; INDIANS OF SOUTH AMERICA;

Dulcimer, play me a little tune --

@3Mercy, died at the age of two,
Read the tablets, and find her name,
"Killed on the door-stone," does it say?
(Whimpered once as the Redskin came),
I remember the winter day.
What shall I play?@1

Dulcimer, play me a dancing tune --

@3David trod them merrily,
"Died on the Meadows," as settlers die
(You passed the meadows, piled with hay),
And never a curl to know him by;
Jig or reel, or a minuet?
What shall I play?@1

Dulcimer, play me a song of love --

@3Hannah Sheldon, thirty-nine,
Died like a woman, beside her man,
There's the door where they hacked their way,
Back in the days of good Queen Anne:
Bullets or scalps, or a ransom to pay.
What shall I play?@1

Dulcimer, dulcimer, play no more!
Or tell me a tune of wedding-bells --

@3Eunice, Joanna, little ones,
"Redeemed," at last, but they chose to stay,
Married their savages, bore them sons,
Happily prayed as Redskins pray@1 --

Ancient dulcimer, dusty old friend,
Praise be for the story's end!



Home: PoetryExplorer.net