Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.

Middle States: Norman’s Kill (Tawasentha), N. Y.

Tawasentha

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)

(From The Song of Hiawatha: Introduction)

IN the Vale of Tawasentha,

In the green and silent valley,

By the pleasant water-courses,

Dwelt the singer Nawadaha.

Round about the Indian village

Spread the meadows and the corn-fields,

And beyond them stood the forest,

Stood the groves of singing pine-trees,

Green in summer, white in winter,

Ever sighing, ever singing.

And the pleasant water-courses,

You could trace them through the valley,

By the rushing in the spring-time,

By the alders in the summer,

By the white fog in the autumn,

By the black line in the winter;

And beside them dwelt the singer,

In the vale of Tawasentha,

In the green and silent valley.