34
CHICOMICO.
Revives to kindle far and wide,
And spread with devastating stride;
So glimmered, so revived, so spread
The mourners' rage around the dead!
Their quivers o'er their shoulders flung,
Up rose the aged and the young;
And swore, as tenants of the wood,
By all their hearts held dear or good,
That, ere another sun should rise,
Their slaughtered foes should glut their eyes.
They swore revenge and bloodshed too,
As their slain chieftain's rightful due;
They swore 'that blood should freely flow
For their poor, lost Chicomico!
And spread with devastating stride;
So glimmered, so revived, so spread
The mourners' rage around the dead!
Their quivers o'er their shoulders flung,
Up rose the aged and the young;
And swore, as tenants of the wood,
By all their hearts held dear or good,
That, ere another sun should rise,
Their slaughtered foes should glut their eyes.
They swore revenge and bloodshed too,
As their slain chieftain's rightful due;
They swore 'that blood should freely flow
For their poor, lost Chicomico!
'Twas evening: all was fair and still;
The orb of night now sparkling on the rill,
Now glittering o'er the fern, and water-brake,
Cast its broad eye-beam o'er the lake!
Far through the forest, where no foot-path lay,
Old Montonoc pursued his onward way;
The fair-haired stranger hung upon his arm,
Shook at each noise, and. trembled with alarm;
"Well do I know the woodland way,
For I have tracked it many a day,
When mountain bear or wilder deer
Have called me to this forest drear.
Fear'st thou with Montonoc to stray,
Why wanderest thou so far away,
From friends, from safety, and from home,
To war, and weariness, and gloom?
The orb of night now sparkling on the rill,
Now glittering o'er the fern, and water-brake,
Cast its broad eye-beam o'er the lake!
Far through the forest, where no foot-path lay,
Old Montonoc pursued his onward way;
The fair-haired stranger hung upon his arm,
Shook at each noise, and. trembled with alarm;
"Well do I know the woodland way,
For I have tracked it many a day,
When mountain bear or wilder deer
Have called me to this forest drear.
Fear'st thou with Montonoc to stray,
Why wanderest thou so far away,
From friends, from safety, and from home,
To war, and weariness, and gloom?
