Page:Hemans in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 35 1834.pdf/9

Enonio. The warrior's arrow knows of nobler prey
Than elk or deer. Now let my father leave
The lone path free.
Herrmann.The forest-way is long
From the red chieftain's home. Rest thee awhile
Beneath my sycamore, and we will speak
Of these things further.
Enonio.Tell me not of rest!
My heart is sleepless, and the dark night swift.
I must begone.
Herrmann (solemnly). No, warrior, thou must stay!
The Mighty One hath given me power to search
Thy soul with piercing words—and thou must stay,
And hear me, and give answer! If thy heart
Be grown thus restless, is it not because
Within its dark folds thou hast mantled up
Some burning thought of ill?
Enonio (with sudden impetuosity.) How should I rest?
—Last night the spirit of my brother came,
An angry shadow in the moonlight streak,
And said—"Avenge me!"—In the clouds this morn,
I saw the frowning colour of his blood—
And that, too, had a voice.—I lay at noon
Alone beside the sounding waterfall,
And thro' its thunder-music spake a tone,
—A low tone piercing all the roll of waves—
And said—"Avenge me!"—There have I raised
The tomahawk, and strung the bow again,
That I may send the shadow from my couch,
And take the strange sound from the cataract,
And sleep once more.
Herrmann.A better path, my son,
Unto the still and dewy land of sleep,
My hand in peace can guide thee—ev'n the way
Thy dying brother trode.—Say, didst thou love
That lost one well?
Enonio.Know'st thou not we grew up
Even as twin roes amidst the wilderness?
Unto the chase we journeyed in one path,
We stemmed the lake in one canoe; we lay
Beneath one oak to rest.—When fever hung
Upon my burning lips, my brother's hand
Was still beneath my head; my brother's robe
Covered my bosom from the chill night air.
Our lives were girdled by one belt of love,
Until he turned him from his fathers' gods,
And then my soul fell from him—then the grass
Grew in the way between our parted homes,
And wheresoe'er I wandered, then it seemed
That all the woods were silent.—I went forth—
I journeyed, with my lonely heart, afar,
And so returned:—and where was he?—the earth
Owned him no more.
Herrmann.But thou thyself since then
Hast turned thee from the idols of thy tribe,
And, like thy brother, bowed the suppliant knee
To the one God.
Enonio.Yes, I have learned to pray
With my white father's words, yet all the more,
My heart, that shut against my brother's love,
Hath been within me as an arrowy fire,
Burning my sleep away.—In the night-hush,
Midst the strange whispers and dim shadowy things