Canadian Singers and Their Songs/E. Pauline Johnson

by E. Pauline Johnson

For other versions of this work, see The Indian Corn Planter.

E. PAULINE JOHNSON
(TEKAHIONWAKE)

AUTHOR OF "FLINT AND FEATHERS: COLLECTED POEMS," "LEGENDS
OF VANCOUVER" (PROSE), ETC.

The Indian Corn Planter.

He needs must leave the trapping and the chase
For mating game his arrows ne'er dispoil.
And from the hunters Heaven turn his face
To wring some promise from the dormant soil
"
He needs must leave the lodge that wintered him
The enervating fires, the blanket bed,
The women's dulcet voices for the grim
Reality of laboring for bread.
"
So goes he forth beneath the planters moon
With sack of seed that harbors large increase
His simple pagan faith knows night and noon
Heat, cold, seed time and harvest shall not cease
"
And yielding to his need, this honest sod
Brown as the hand that tills it, moist with rain
Teeming with ripe fulfilment true as God,
With fostering richness mothers every grain.

E. Pauline JohnsonTekahionwake