The Indian Burying Ground In spite of all the learned have said, Points out the soul's eternal sleep. Not so the ancients of these lands- And shares again the joyous feast." His imaged birds, and painted bowl, And venison, for a journey dressed, His bow, for action ready bent, And arrows, with a head of stone, Thou, stranger, that shalt come this way, Observe the swelling turf, and say They do not lie, but here they sit. Here still a lofty rock remains, 5 ΤΟ 15 20 On which the curious eye may trace (Now wasted, half, by wearing rains) The fancies of a ruder race. Here still an aged elm aspires, Beneath whose far-projecting shade There oft a restless Indian queen And many a barbarous form is seen By midnight moons, o'er moistening dews; 6. "The North American Indians bury ons" [Freneau's note]. 25 30 7. The Queen of Sheba, a powerful Arabian country, paid a visit in homage to Solomon (I Kings x; II Chronicles ix) and became legendary in literature for her beauty and wisdom. Thou, born to sip the lake or spring, Did he for you this glass prepare?— Did storms harass or foes perplex, Or did you miss your way?— A better seat you could not take Welcome! I hail you to my glass: This fluid never fails to please, And drown the griefs of men or bees. What forced you here we cannot know, And you will scarcely tell But cheery we would have you go And bid a glad farewell: you flv, On lighter wings we bid Yet take not, oh! too deep a drink, And in this ocean die; Here bigger bees than you might sink, Even bees full six feet high. & Originally, "On a Bee Drinking from a Glass of Water" (Time-Piece, Sept. 6, 1797), this was twice revised, and reprinted with the present title in Poems (1809). Like Pharaoh, then, you would be said To perish in a sea of red.1 Do as you please, your will is mine; Enjoy it without fear And your grave will be this glass of wine, Your epitaph-a tear; Go, take your seat on Charon's boat, 30 35 1797, 1809 To a Caty-Did3 In a branch of willow hid you tread, On your sheet of shadows laid, All the day you nothing said: Half the night your cheery tongue From your lodgings on the leaf Poor, unhappy Caty-did! But you would have utter'd more And a leaf's your winding sheet, 1. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, attempting to pursue the Israelites across the Red Sea, lost his army by drowning (Exodus xiv: 1-27). 2. The ferryman of the dead. 3. "A well-known insect, when full grown, about two inches in length, and of the exact color of a green leaf. It is of the genus cicada, or grasshopper kind, inhabiting the green foliage of trees and singing such a song as Caty-did in the evening, towards autumn" [Freneau's note]. Long before your spirit fled, Live and chatter, Caty-did. Tell me, what did Caty do? Why continue to complain? Will not give you plague or pain:- Caty will not go to bed While you sing us Caty-did. Caty-did! Caty-did! Caty-did! But, while singing, you forgot Stay securely in your nest; On the Universality and Other Attributes All that we see, about, abroad, In seas, on earth, this God is seen; His system fixed on general laws Unchanged in all that seems to change, In all the attributes divine In these enwrapt, in these complete, This power doth all powers transcend, To all intelligence a friend, Exists, the greatest and the best Throughout all the worlds, to make them blest. All that he did he first approved, 4. Characteristic phrase of Deism, the rationalistic creed of Freneau now at sixty-three as in his youth. For Deism, see Franklin, Paine, and Jefferson, above. 5. "Jupiter, optimus, maximus.-Cicero" [Freneau's note]. The comparison of pagan and Christian concepts of God was characteristic of Deism; Cf. Paine, The Age of Reason. |