Page:The Poems of John Dyer (1903).djvu/125

Form'd into various states, pow'rful and rich,
In regions far remote ; who from our looms
Take largely for themselves, and for those tribes
Of Indians, ancient tenants of the land, 520
In amity conjoin'd, of civil life
The comforts taught, and various new desires,
Which kindle arts, and occupy the poor,
And spread Brittania's flocks o'er every dale.
Ye who the shuttle cast along the loom, 525
The silk-worms' thread inweaving with the Fleece,
Pray for the culture of the Georgian tract,
Nor slight the green savannahs and the plains
Of Carolina, where thick woods arise
Of mulberries, and in whose water'd fields 530
Upsprings the verdant blade of thirsty rice.
Where are the happy regions which afford
More implements of commerce and of wealth ?
Fertile Virginia, like a vigorous bough,
Which overshades some crystal river, spreads 535
Her wealthy cultivations wide around,
And, more than many a spacious realm, rewards
The Fleecy shuttle : to her growing marts,
The Iroquese, Cheroques, and Oubacks, come,
And quit their feathery ornaments uncouth 540
For woolly garments ; and the cheers of life,
The cheers, but not the vices, learn to taste.
Blush, Europeans ! whom the circling cup
Of Luxury intoxicates. Ye routs,
Who for your crimes have fled your native land ; 545
And ye voluptuous idle, who in vain
Seek easy habitations, void of care ;
The sons of Nature with astonishment
And detestation mark your evil deeds,
And view, no longer aw'd, your nerveless arms, 550
Unfit to cultivate Ohio's banks.