Page:Pocahontas and Other Poems (NY).pdf/182



cometh! Death is here. Leave me alone! Hence! hence! Ye shall not see me when I die, If die I must. I would not that the men Whom I have led to battle saw me yield To any conqueror. Shall my warriors hear From this undaunted breast the gasp or groan As when a woman dies? "How cold the dew Starts o'er my temples! Wipe it not away. Shame on your tears! Leave me alone with Death! For I will meet him as a brave man should, And hurl defiance at him.                                           "What is this? Ha! He hath smote the lion! Was it well To steal upon me in my unarm'd bed, Most potent enemy? How hast thou cut The nerve of that strong arm, which used to cleave The proudest foeman like the sapling spray! Oh friends! the dimness of the grave doth steal Over those eyes, that as the eagle dared The noontide sunbeam. Let me hear your voice Once more! once more! "In vain! The ear is seal'd Which caught the rustle of the lightest leaf Where the close ambush lay. Come back! come back! Hear my last bidding, friends! Lay not my bones