There\u2019s a spirit on the river, there\u2019s a ghost upon the shore,
\nThey are chanting, they are singing through the starlight evermore,
\nAs they steal amid the silence,
\nAnd the shadows of the shore.<\/p>\n
You can hear them when the Northern candles light the Northern sky,
\nThose pale, uncertain candle flames, that shiver, dart and die,
\nThose dead men\u2019s icy finger tips,
\nAthwart the Northern sky.<\/p>\n
You can hear the ringing war-cry of a long-forgotten brave
\nEcho through the midnight forest, echo o\u2019er the midnight wave,
\nAnd the Northern lanterns tremble
\nAt the war-cry of that brave.<\/p>\n
And you hear a voice responding, but in soft and tender song;
\nIt is Dawendine\u2019s spirit singing, singing all night long;
\nAnd the whisper of the night wind
\nBears afar her Spirit song.<\/p>\n
And the wailing pine trees murmur with their voice attuned to hers,
\nMurmur when they \u2018rouse from slumber as the night wind through them stirs;
\nAnd you listen to their legend,
\nAnd their voices blend with hers.<\/p>\n
There was feud and there was bloodshed near the river by the hill;
\nAnd Dawendine listened, while her very heart stood still:
\nWould her kinsman or her lover
\nBe the victim by the hill?<\/p>\n
Who would be the great unconquered? who come boasting how he dealt
\nDeath? and show his rival\u2019s scalplock fresh and bleeding at his belt.
\nWho would say, \u201cO Dawendine!
\nLook upon the death I dealt?\u201d<\/p>\n
And she listens, listens, listens\u2014till a war-cry rends the night,
\nCry of her victorious lover, monarch he of all the height;
\nAnd his triumph wakes the horrors,
\nKills the silence of the night.<\/p>\n
Heart of her! it throbs so madly, then lies freezing in her breast,
\nFor the icy hand of death has chilled the brother she loved best;
\nAnd her lover dealt the death-blow;
\nAnd her heart dies in her breast.<\/p>\n
And she hears her mother saying, \u201cTake thy belt of wampum white;
\nGo unto yon evil savage while he glories on the height;
\nSing and sue for peace between us:
\nAt his feet lay wampum white.<\/p>\n
\u201cLest thy kinsmen all may perish, all thy brothers and thy sire
\nFall before his mighty hatred as the forest falls to fire;
\nTake thy wampum pale and peaceful,
\nSave thy brothers, save thy sire.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the girl arises softly, softly slips toward the shore;
\nLoves she well the murdered brother, loves his hated foeman more,
\nLoves, and longs to give the wampum;
\nAnd she meets him on the shore.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeace,\u201d she sings, \u201cO mighty victor, Peace! I bring thee wampum white.
\nSheathe thy knife whose blade has tasted my young kinsman\u2019s blood to-night
\nEre it drink to slake its thirsting,
\nI have brought thee wampum white.\u201d<\/p>\n
Answers he, \u201cO Dawendine! I will let thy kinsmen be,
\nI accept thy belt of wampum; but my hate demands for me
\nThat they give their fairest treasure,
\nEre I let thy kinsmen be.<\/p>\n
\u201cDawendine, for thy singing, for thy suing, war shall cease;
\nFor thy name, which speaks of dawning, Thou<\/i> shalt be the dawn of peace;
\nFor thine eyes whose purple shadows tell of dawn,
\nMy hate shall cease.<\/p>\n
\u201cDawendine, Child of Dawning, hateful are thy kin to me;
\nRed my fingers with their heart blood, but my heart is red for thee:
\nDawendine, Child of Dawning,
\nWilt thou fail or follow me?\u201d<\/p>\n
And her kinsmen still are waiting her returning from the night,
\nWaiting, waiting for her coming with her belt of wampum white;
\nBut forgetting all, she follows,
\nWhere he leads through day or night.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a spirit on the river, there\u2019s a ghost upon the shore,
\nAnd they sing of love and loving through the starlight evermore,
\nAs they steal amid the silence,
\nAnd the shadows of the shore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251,"menu_order":6,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-62","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\/62","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":2,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/62\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":304,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/62\/revisions\/304"}],"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\/62\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=62"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=62"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=62"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}