The league of the Iroquois and other legends : from the Indian muse

120 THE LEAGUE OF THE IROQUOIS,
To charm and guard his home and place
Its barky sides he pictured fair
With to-tems of his name and race,
Where fierce the Tortoise, Wolf and Bear
High on its barky cover shone ;
Each type and symbol, such as thence
The greatly wise may draw alone
The mystery of the hidden sense.
And there he brought the aged sire,
And there Nyah-tah-wanta came ;
She broke the sticks, she built the fire,
While sweeter than the crackling flame
The song that murmured in her heart,
So overfull of love's unrest.
Oh ! love can wake the songful art
That slumbers in the rudest breast.
Glad wore the days, with joy allied,
Of Hayo-went-ha's hunter-life ;
And she that was a beauteous bride
More beauteous ripened to the wife ;
And if at whiles o'erwearied pressed
The feet the household burdens bore,
It sweetened more the after-rest ;
Love-lit, the Home-fire brightened more.