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The Indian Burying Ground

In spite of all the learned have said,
I still my old opinion keep;
The posture, that we give the dead,

Points out the soul's eternal sleep.

Not so the ancients of these lands-
The Indian, when from life released,
Again is seated with his friends,

And shares again the joyous feast."

His imaged birds, and painted bowl,

And venison, for a journey dressed,
Bespeak the nature of the soul,
Activity, that knows no rest.

His bow, for action ready bent,

And arrows, with a head of stone,
Can only mean that life is spent,
And not the old ideas gone.

Thou, stranger, that shalt come this way,
No fraud upon the dead commit—

Observe the swelling turf, and say

They do not lie, but here they sit.

Here still a lofty rock remains,

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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
(And which the shepherd still admires)
The children of the forest played!

There oft a restless Indian queen
(Pale Shebah,' with her braided hair)

And many a barbarous form is seen
To chide the man that lingers there.

By midnight moons, o'er moistening dews;
In habit for the chase arrayed,

6. "The North American Indians bury
their dead in a sitting posture; decorat-
ing the corpse with wampum, the images
of birds, quadrupeds, &c: And (if that
of a warrior) with bows, arrows, tom-
hawks [sic], and other military weap-

ons" [Freneau's note].

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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.

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Thou, born to sip the lake or spring,
Or quaff the waters of the stream,
Why hither come, on vagrant wing?—
Does Bacchus tempting seem—

Did he for you this glass prepare?—
Will I admit you to a share?

Did storms harass or foes perplex,
Did wasps or king-birds bring dismay-
Did wars distress, or labors vex,

Or did you miss your way?—

A better seat you could not take
Than on the margin of this lake.

Welcome! I hail you to my glass:
All welcome, here, you find;
Here, let the cloud of trouble pass,
Here, be all care resigned.—

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
Your dart will now all foes defy.

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

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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,
We'll tell the hive, you died afloat.

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1797, 1809

To a Caty-Did3

In a branch of willow hid
Sings the evening Caty-did:
From the lofty locust bough
Feeding on a drop of dew,
In her suit of green array'd
Hear her singing in the shade
Caty-did, Caty-did, Caty-did!
While upon a
a leaf

you tread,
Or repose your little head,

On

your sheet of shadows laid,

All the day you nothing said:

Half the night your cheery tongue
Revell'd out its little song,
Nothing else but Caty-did.

From your lodgings on the leaf
Did you utter joy or grief?—
Did you only mean to say,
I have had my summer's day,
And am passing, soon, away
To the grave of Caty-did:-

Poor, unhappy Caty-did!

But you would have utter'd more
Had
you known of nature's power-
From the world when you retreat,

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

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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,
Who can tell but nature said,
Live again, my Caty-did!

Live and chatter, Caty-did.

Tell me, what did Caty do?
Did she mean to trouble you?-
Why was Caty not forbid
To trouble little Caty-did?—
Wrong, indeed at you to fling,
Hurting no one while you sing
Caty-did! Caty-did! Caty-did!

Why continue to complain?
Caty tells me, she again

Will not give you plague or pain:-
Caty says you may be hid,

Caty will not go to bed

While you sing us Caty-did.

Caty-did! Caty-did! Caty-did!

But, while singing, you forgot
To tell us what did Caty not:
Caty-did not think of cold,
Flocks retiring to the fold,
Winter, with his wrinkles old,
Winter, that yourself foretold
When you gave us Caty-did.

Stay securely in your nest;
Caty now, will do her best,
All she can, to make you blest;
But, you want no human aid-
Nature, when she form'd you, said,
"Independent you are made,
My dear little Caty-did:
Soon yourself must disappear
With the verdure of the year,"-
And to go, we know not where,
With your song of Caty-did.

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On the Universality and Other Attributes
of the God of Nature*

All that we see, about, abroad,
What is it all, but nature's God?
In meaner works discovered here
No less than in the starry sphere.

In seas, on earth, this God is seen;
All that exist, upon him lean;
He lives in all, and never strayed
A moment from the works he made:

His system fixed on general laws
Bespeaks a wise creating cause;
Impartially he rules mankind
And all that on this globe we find.

Unchanged in all that seems to change,
Unbounded space is his great range;
To one vast purpose always true,
No time, with him, is old or new.

In all the attributes divine
Unlimited perfectings shine;

In these enwrapt, in these complete,
All virtues in that centre meet.

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,
He all things into being loved;
O'er all he made he still presides,
For them in life, or death provides.

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.

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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.

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