 | Poems of Freneau |  |
STANZAS
TO THE MEMORY OF TWO YOUNG PERSONS (TWIN BROTHERS), ROBERT SEVIER AND WILLIAM SEVIER, WHO WERE KILLED BY THE SAVAGES ON CUMBERLAND RIVER, IN NORTH-CAROLINA, IN ATTEMPTING TO ASSIST A NEW SETTLER, WHO WAS THEN PASSING THE RIVER WITH A NUMEROUS FAMILY.
IN the same hour two lovely youths were born,
Nature, with care, had moulded either clay:
In the same hour, from this world's limits torn,
The murderous Indian seized their lives away.
Nature, with care, had moulded either clay:
In the same hour, from this world's limits torn,
The murderous Indian seized their lives away.
Distress to aid, impelled each generous breast;
With nervous arm they braved the adverse tide,
In friendship's cause encountered death's embrace,
Blameless they lived, in honour's path they died.
With nervous arm they braved the adverse tide,
In friendship's cause encountered death's embrace,
Blameless they lived, in honour's path they died.
But ah! what art shall dry a father's tears!
Who shall relieve, or what beguile his pain!
Clouds shade his sun, and griefs advance with years—
Nature gave joys, to take those joys again.
Who shall relieve, or what beguile his pain!
Clouds shade his sun, and griefs advance with years—
Nature gave joys, to take those joys again.
Thou, that shall come to these sequestered streams,
When times to come their story shall relate;
Let the fond heart, that native worth esteems,
Revere their virtues, and bemoan their fate.
When times to come their story shall relate;
Let the fond heart, that native worth esteems,
Revere their virtues, and bemoan their fate.
1792
| Poems of Freneau | |