Page:What cheer, or, Roger Williams in banishment (1896).pdf/92

 XXV.

He paused a while; at last he thus began: "Sachem of many moons, and wise as gray! Well knowest thou how short the life of man; These aged oaks have witnessed the decay Of many a generation of thy clan,  Which flourished like their leaves, and past away; Why war ye, then, upon a life so brief!— Why fill its little span with wretchedness and grief?

XXVI.

But they who seek the pure unmingled goods That last for aye,—to strenuous duty true,— Count freedom of the soul, in her high moods, The first of gifts from the Great Manittoo:— For this I wander to these distant woods; For this from persecution's brands I flew, And left my friends, my kindred, and my home, Through stormy skies and snowy wilds to roam.

XXVII.

"Some thoughts of mine, that the Great Spirit might Rule better His own kingdom than frail men, Awoke the anger of my brothers white,  And sent me forth to seek some far-off glen, Where I, unharmed, my council fire might light,  And share its freedom with my kindred, when Under the tree of peace, the red men should Smoke the white pipe in friendly neighborhood.

XXVIII.

On Seekonk's eastern marge I chose a glade, Fertile and fair, with hope to plant thereon; The Wampanoag would the grant have made, But, momently, the startling rumor run