 | My Sonnets |  |
19
MAKANNA.
C, —Makanna (the Mahomet of the Caffers) roused the
tribes of his nation, in 1818, to drive out the Europeans from
the Cape. Foiled in their attack on Graham's Town, dispersing,
they sought shelter in the woods, while various expeditions of
the English and Dutch Boors, ravaged their country. To save
his nation from destruction, Makanna voluntarily gave himself
up to his enemies.
Camped in the land their ruthless bands had made
C, —Makanna (the Mahomet of the Caffers) roused the tribes of his nation, in 1818, to drive out the Europeans from the Cape. Foiled in their attack on Graham's Town, dispersing, they sought shelter in the woods, while various expeditions of the English and Dutch Boors, ravaged their country. To save his nation from destruction, Makanna voluntarily gave himself up to his enemies.
A smoking desert, for awhile, to slay,
The christian desolators ceased; that day,
Their bloody hunt for men, the heavens forbade;
That day, the white man's sword, the tempest stayed.
The houseless, hungering, savage ceased to pray,
In vain, for mercy. Out from where he lay,
Crouching within the tangled brake's deep shade,
With lofty tread, the Prophet Chieftain came.
Erect again, in native majesty,
He stands; he thinks upon his warriors' shame,
And fierce fire kindles in his rolling eye.
Can his arm shield his tribe, fast falling? No.
Yet peace his life may buy—he stalks towards the foe.
November 26th, 1842.
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