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

THE LEAGUE OF THE ISOQDOIS.
Ye lingering few who weakly stand
Where strong of old your fathers stood l
The rulers in a mighty land
Unmeasured leagues of wave and wood !
Ye proudly keep, howso bereft,
Still of the bold heroic will,
Though of that realm to you are left
But narrow belts of vale and hill.
Where once you bore the warrior -bow
Or fleetly led the hunter -chase,
Now, fate - constrained, you reap and sow
Now toil as doth the Toiler -race.
If others plant on fairer wold,
And harvest more of golden ears,
I this recall, that they do hold
The vantage of a thousand years.
Though silent, yours a soul intense ;
Still is the dusky breast imbued
With slumbering fire, whose eloquence
Once thrilled the forest solitude.
And when the thoughts that hold and thrall
In other speech take form again,
You, standing in the council -hall,
Shall stir anew the hearts of men.