Poems by William Cullen Bryant
page 21 of 294 (07%)
page 21 of 294 (07%)
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XXXI.
Not unavenged--the foeman, from the wood, Beheld the deed, and when the midnight shade Was stillest, gorged his battle-axe with blood; All died--the wailing babe--the shrieking maid-- And in the flood of fire that scathed the glade, The roofs went down; but deep the silence grew, When on the dewy woods the day-beam played; No more the cabin smokes rose wreathed and blue, And ever, by their lake, lay moored the light canoe. XXXII. Look now abroad--another race has filled These populous borders--wide the wood recedes, And towns shoot up, and fertile realms are tilled: The land is full of harvests and green meads; Streams numberless, that many a fountain feeds, Shine, disembowered, and give to sun and breeze Their virgin waters; the full region leads New colonies forth, that toward the western seas Spread, like a rapid flame among the autumnal trees. XXXIII. Here the free spirit of mankind, at length, Throws its last fetters off; and who shall place |
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