Song
| "The Indian Hunter" | |
|---|---|
 Cover of sheet music, c. 1842. | |
| Song | |
| Language | English |
| Published | c. 1842 |
| Composer(s) | Henry Russell |
| Lyricist(s) | Eliza Cook |
"The Indian Hunter" is a song based on a poem by Eliza Cook. Music was added by Henry Russell and published in 1842. In the poem, a lament, the hunter is questioning what the white man wants with him and his home.
Cook's poem
"The Indian Hunter", as written by Eliza Cook:
- Oh! why does the white man follow my path,
- Like the hound on the tiger's track?
- Does the blush on my dark cheek waken he wrath?
- Doe he covet the bow on my back?
- He has rivers and seas, where the billows and breeze
- Bear riches for him alone;
- And the sons of the wood never plunge in the flood
- Which the white man calls his own.
- Why then should he come to the streams where none
- But the red-skin dare to swim?
- Why, why should he wrong the hunter-one,
- Who never did harm to him?
- The Father above thought fit to give
- To the white man corn and wine;
- There are golden fields, where they may live,
- But the forest shades are mine.
- The eagle hath its place of rest,
- The wild horse where to dwell;
- An the Spirit that gave the bird its nest,
- Made me a home as well.
- Then back, go back from the red man's track,
- For the hunter's eyes grow dim,
- To find that the white man wrongs the one
- Who never did harm to him.
References
- Cook, The Poetical Works of Eliza Cook, p. 343.
Bibliography
- Cook, Eliza. The Poetical Works of Eliza Cook. Philadelphia: John Ball (1850)
- Cook, Eliza (w.); Russell, Henry (m.). "The Indian Hunter" (Sheet music). New York: Firth, Hall & Pond (c. 1842).
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