 | Later Lays and Lyrics |  |
WINTEMOYEH.
I.
Wintemoyeh! Wintemoyeh!Fairest of the forest daughters!
Still thy voice of lamentation
Rises from the silver waters.
Well I love yon lake of beauty
Cradled amid mountains green,
For a sad, and olden legend,
Links thy memory to the scene.
32
II.
Wintemoyeh! Wintemoyeh!Dark and dreary was the day
When the bravest of my tribesmen
Fell in battle far away.
By the crafty Sioux surrounded
On the prairies of the West,
Long they waged unequal conflict,
Foot to foot, and breast to breast.
III.
Washed away are stains of battleBy the rains of long ago,
And tall grasses, rankly growing,
Hide old bones that bleach below.
There unburied lies thy lover,
In his strength and pride cut down—
Vain his love for Wintemoyeh,
Vain his longings for renown.
IV.
When a runner of her peopleBrought the fearful tidings back
To her wild, distempered vision,
As the midnight morn grew black.
To a rocky platform jutting
From the wooded mountain side,
When the summer day was dying
Crazed, young Wintemoyeh hied.
V.
Far below, with softened murmur,Curled the billows up the beach,
33
By the lone owl's boding screech;
But she cared not for the hooting
Of dull night's ill-omened bird,
While her black, dishevelled tresses
By the evening wind was stirred.
VI.
From her breast the silver broachesRudely with her hand she tore—
From her soft arms pulled the bracelets,
For their brightness charmed no more,
Then with wailing cadence floated
Her sad death-song on the air,
And the music was in keeping
With her look of wild despair.
VII.
Followed fast her friends to save her,But she heeded not their cries;
Looked her last upon the mountains,
And the purple sunset skies;
Madly calling on her lover,
Then she took the desperate leap,
And the Swan Lake gave her burial
In its hollows dark and deep.
VIII.
Wintemoyeh! Wintemoyeh!Fairest of the forest daughters!
Still thy voice of lamentation
Rises from the silver waters;
34
At the hush of twilight gray,
Sees a phantom, in the distance,
On the billows melt away.
| Later Lays and Lyrics | |