PALE in the east a filmy moon Creeps up the empty sky, And the pallid prairie rounds bleak below, And we wonder that we are here; and the thin winds sigh Through the broken stalks of the sunflowers that wait to die, And the sun is gone, and the darkness begins to grow, And out on the shadowy plains we hear the coyote's cry. Out of the dark of the prairie plains — What lurks in the darkened plains? It is there that the coyote howls, It is there that the Indian prowls, Sinewy-footed, alert, Watching to do us hurt; And the sombre buffalo Pace, ominous and slow, With their black beards trailing low Over the sifting snow. And we, we cower and shake, Lying all night awake, — We in our little sod-built hut in the heart of the plain. God guard us, and make vain The wiles of the Indian foe; God show us how to go, And lead us in again Out of the dread of the plain, Home to the mountains and hills that our childhood knew, Where over the sombre pine trees the sea shines blue. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EXILE OF ERIN by THOMAS CAMPBELL TO GOD AND IRELAND TRUE by ELLEN O'LEARY THE VOW OF WASHINGTON by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER PRAYER FOR A CITY CHILD by DOROTHY P. ALBAUGH TO A SINGING BIRD by PHILIP AYRES |