My forest brave, my Red-skin love, farewell;
\nWe may not meet to-morrow; who can tell
\nWhat mighty ills befall our little band,
\nOr what you\u2019ll suffer from the white man\u2019s hand?
\nHere is your knife! I thought \u2019twas sheathed for aye.
\nNo roaming bison calls for it to-day;
\nNo hide of prairie cattle will it maim;
\nThe plains are bare, it seeks a nobler game:
\n\u2018Twill drink the life-blood of a soldier host.
\nGo; rise and strike, no matter what the cost.
\nYet stay. Revolt not at the Union Jack,
\nNor raise Thy hand against this stripling pack
\nOf white-faced warriors, marching West to quell
\nOur fallen tribe that rises to rebel.
\nThey all are young and beautiful and good;
\nCurse to the war that drinks their harmless blood.
\nCurse to the fate that brought them from the East
\nTo be our chiefs\u2014to make our nation least
\nThat breathes the air of this vast continent.
\nStill their new rule and council is well meant.
\nThey but forget we Indians owned the land
\nFrom ocean unto ocean; that they stand
\nUpon a soil that centuries agone
\nWas our sole kingdom and our right alone.
\nThey never think how they would feel to-day,
\nIf some great nation came from far away,
\nWresting their country from their hapless braves,
\nGiving what they gave us\u2014but wars and graves.
\nThen go and strike for liberty and life,
\nAnd bring back honour to your Indian wife.
\nYour wife? Ah, what of that, who cares for me?
\nWho pities my poor love and agony?
\nWhat white-robed priest prays for your safety here,
\nAs prayer is said for every volunteer
\nThat swells the ranks that Canada sends out?
\nWho prays for vict\u2019ry for the Indian scout?
\nWho prays for our poor nation lying low?
\nNone\u2014therefore take your tomahawk and go.
\nMy heart may break and burn into its core,
\nBut I am strong to bid you go to war.
\nYet stay, my heart is not the only one
\nThat grieves the loss of husband and of son;
\nThink of the mothers o\u2019er the inland seas;
\nThink of the pale-faced maiden on her knees;
\nOne pleads her God to guard some sweet-faced child
\nThat marches on toward the North-West wild.
\nThe other prays to shield her love from harm,
\nTo strengthen his young, proud uplifted arm.
\nAh, how her white face quivers thus to think,
\nYour<\/i> tomahawk his life\u2019s best blood will drink.
\nShe never thinks of my wild aching breast,
\nNor prays for your dark face and eagle crest
\nEndangered by a thousand rifle balls,
\nMy heart the target if my warrior falls.
\nO! coward self I hesitate no more;
\nGo forth, and win the glories of the war.
\nGo forth, nor bend to greed of white men\u2019s hands,
\nBy right, by birth we Indians own these lands,
\nThough starved, crushed, plundered, lies our nation low\u2026
\nPerhaps the white man\u2019s God has willed it so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251,"menu_order":5,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-60","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/60","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/60\/revisions\/61"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/60\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=60"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=60"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}