The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume 4.
John Greenleaf Whittier, Ed.

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[346] A few more moons, and there will be
     No gathering to the council tree;
The scorched earth—the blackened log—
     The naked bones of warriors slain,
Be the sole relics which remain
     Of the once mighty Wampanoag!
The forests of our hunting-land,
     With all their old and solemn green,
Will bow before the Spoiler's axe—
     The plough displace the hunter's tracks,
And the tall prayer-house steeple stand
     Where the Great Spirit's shrine hath been!

Yet, brother, from this awful hour
     The dying curse of Metacom
Shall linger with abiding power
     Upon the spoilers of my home.
The fearful veil of things to come,
     By Kitchtan's hand is lifted from
The shadows of the embryo years;
     And I can see more clearly through
Than ever visioned Powwah did,
     For all the future comes unbid
Yet welcome to my tranced view,
     As battle-yell to warrior-ears!
From stream and lake and hunting-hill
     Our tribes may vanish like a dream,
And even my dark curse may seem
     Like idle winds when Heaven is still,
No bodeful harbinger of ill;
     But, fiercer than the downright thunder,
When yawns the mountain-rock asunder,
     And riven pine and knotted oak
Are reeling to the fearful stroke,
     That curse shall work its master's will!
The bed of yon blue mountain stream
     Shall pour a darker tide than rain—
The sea shall catch its blood-red stain,
     And broadly on its banks shall gleam
The steel of those who should be brothers;
     Yea, those whom one fond parent nursed
Shall meet in strife, like fiends accursed,
     And trample down the once loved form,
While yet with breathing passion warm,
     As fiercely as they would another's! “

The morning star sat dimly on
     The lighted eastern horizon—
The deadly glare of levelled gun
     Came streaking through the twilight hame
And naked to its reddest blaze,
     A hundred warriors sprang in view;
One dark red arm was tossed on high,