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Title: Farewell, My Native Land
Author: John S. Adams [
More Titles by Adams]
Written for KAH-GE-GA-GAI-BOWH, a representative from
the Northwest Tribes of American
Indians to the Peace Convention in Frankfort-on-the-Maine,
Germany; and recited by him
on board the British steamship Niagara, at the hour
of sailing from Boston, July 10th, 1850.
THE day is brightening which we long have sought;
I see its early light and hail its dawn;
The gentle voice of Peace my ear hath caught,
And from my forest-home I greet the morn.
Here, now, I meet you with a brother's hand-
Bid you farewell-then speed me on my way
To join the white men in a foreign land,
And from the dawn bring on the bright noon-day.
Noon-day of Peace! O, glorious jubilee,
When all mankind are one, from sea to sea.
Farewell, my native land, rock, hill, and plain!
River and lake, and forest-home, adieu!
Months shall depart ere I shall tread again
Amid your scenes, and be once more with you.
I leave thee now; but wheresoe'er I go,
Whatever scenes of grandeur meet my eyes,
My heart can but one native country know,
And that the fairest land beneath the skies.
America! farewell, thou art that gem,
Brightest and fairest in earth's diadem.
Land where my fathers chased the fleeting deer;
Land whence the smoke of council-fires arose;
Land whose own warriors never knew a fear;
Land where the mighty Mississippi flows;
Land whose broad surface spreads from sea to sea;
Land where Niagara thunders forth God's praise;--
May Peace and Plenty henceforth dwell with thee,
And o'er thee War no more its banner raise!
Adieu, my native land,--hill, stream, and dell!
The hour hath come to part us,--fare thee well.
[The end]
John S. Adams's poem: Farewell, My Native Land
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