John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). The Poetical Works in Four Volumes. 1892.
Narrative and Legendary PoemsThe Bridal of Pennacook
VII. The Departure
T
The snowy mountains of the North among,
Making each vale a watercourse, each hill
Bright with the cascade of some new-made rill.
Heaved underneath by the swollen current’s strain,
The ice-bridge yielded, and the Merrimac
Bore the huge ruin crashing down its track.
Guided by one weak hand was seen to float;
Evil the fate which loosed it from the shore,
Too early voyager with too frail an oar!
The thick huge ice-blocks threatening either side,
The foam-white rocks of Amoskeag in view,
With arrowy swiftness sped that light canoe.
On the wet bank by Uncanoonuc’s feet,
Saw the swift boat flash down the troubled stream;
Slept he, or waked he? was it truth or dream?
The small hand clenching on the useless oar,
The bead-wrought blanket trailing o’er the water—
He knew them all—woe for the Sachem’s daughter!
Heedless of peril, the still faithful wife
Had left her mother’s grave, her father’s door,
To seek the wigwam of her chief once more.
On the sharp rocks and piled-up ices hurled,
Empty and broken, circled the canoe
In the vexed pool below—but where was Weetamoo?