Page:Poems Emma M. Ballard Bell.djvu/40

Upon the starry heavens that o'er them hung.Then would the chieftain speak, in tones subdued,Of one Great Spirit ruling ev'rywhere.But of that Being whom he little knew,So few and strange the solemn words he spoke,That in the soul of Sunny-Eye they wokeStrange wonder and bewild'ring awe alone.The mother led her oft, at sunset's hour,Where side by side three little graves were seen.Then to her child she spoke, in deep, sad tones,Of other days, when little children playedAround their wigwam, with their voices gay,Their laughter merry, as was Sunny-Eye's,And how Death-spirit took them all away,And how they dwelt in far-off blessed isles,Where happy souls shall live for evermore. "Shall I forever live?" the maiden cried;"And shall I reach at last those blessed isles?Then tell me more of that which still shall liveWhen we upon this earth are seen no more."Then sadly on her child the mother gazed,And said, "O Sunny-Eye, I know no more!" But in the soul of Sunny-Eye each dayThis longing after truth grew so intenseThat it absorbed almost her every thought. The parents watched with silent grief and fearThe strange unrest that seemed to haunt her soul;