Indian melodies :: :: University of Virginia Library

Great Father, let piety be our life's measure,
Our purest of duties, and truest of pleasure;
Bad living—bad acting, the curse of our lands,
Oh, come let us leave, as the Spirit commands.

Then blest in our roving, wherever we go,
Success shall attend on our camp and our bow;
We will live without blame, and will pity our kind,
And when we depart, leave a good name behind.

The Great Spirit made us—the Great Spirit knows,
Our wants and our weakness, our virtues and woes;
But if we forget him, and pray not most true,
He will leave us in darkness all life's journey through.

Pray comrade ... pray warrior ... pray hunter ... pray chief,
'Tis the only sure mode of our getting relief;
He will hearken to bless his poor sons of the wood,
And give us a seat in the land of the good.

[In the frowning cliff, that high]

In the frowning cliff, that high
Glooms above the passing eye:
Casting spectral shadows tall,
Over lower rock and wall:
In its morn and sunset glow,
I behold a Manito.

By the lake, or river lone,
In the humble fretted stone,
Water-sculptured, and by chance,
Cast along the wave's expanse:
In its morn and sunset glow,
I behold a Manito.

In whatever's dark or new,
And my senses cannot view,
Complex work ... appearance strange,
Arts' advance, or nature's change:
Fearful e'er of hurt or woe,
I behold a Manito.

In the motions of the sky,
Where the angry lightnings fly,

And the thunder, dread and dire,
Lifts his mighty voice in fire:
Awed with fear of sudden woe,
I behold a Manito.

Here, my humble voice I lift,
Here, I lay my sacred gift;
And with heart that bowing prays,
Cries of hallelujah raise.
Spirit, Father, God, or Jove,
Thee I fear, and Thee I love;
And if joy betide, or woe,
Thou, thou art my Manito.

[Heaven may change, and earth may flee]

Heaven may change, and earth may flee,
But I shall an Indian be,
If, to be a convert pure,
Mean, my country to abjure;
Or those feelings of the heart,
Friends and home and peace impart;
Or those hopes of justice bright,
That no time can change or blight;
Or that faith, that actions here,
Shall in heaven above appear.

But if change may only mean,
Manners rude, or rites unclean;
Faith defective ... maxims blind,
Such as blear the native mind;—
If it mean not, to forego
Present good for present woe,
Banish every view estranged,
Change me, for my heart is changed,
And begin the sacred vow,
For I am a convert now.