Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PEACE MESSAGE, by BURTON EGBERT STEVENSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PEACE MESSAGE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: At the door of his hut sat massasoit
Last Line: His messenger of peace.
Subject(s): Massasoit (d. 1661); Native Americans; Peace; Pilgrim Fathers; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America


AT the door of his hut sat Massasoit,
And his face was lined with care,
For the Yellow Pest had stalked from the West
And swept his wigwams bare;
Mother and child had it stricken down,
And the warrior in his pride,
Till for one that lived when the plague was past,
A full half-score had died.

Now from the Eastern Shore there came
Word of a white-skinned race
Who had risen from out the mighty deep
In search of a dwelling-place.
Houses they fashioned of tree and stone,
Turkey and deer they slew
With a breath of flame like the lightning-flash
Of the great God, Manitu.

Was it war or peace? The Chief looked round
On the wreck of his mighty band.
His heart was sad as he rose from the ground
And held on high his hand.
"We must treat with the stranger, my children," he said,
And he called to him Samoset:
"You will go to the men on the Eastern Shore
With wampum and calumet."

Warm was the welcome he received,
For the Pilgrims' hearts did thrill
At the message he brought from Massasoit,
With its earnest of good-will.
They bade him eat and they bade him drink,
Gave bracelet, knife, and ring,
And sent him again to Monhegan
To lay them before his king.

So the treaty was made, and the treaty was kept
For fifty years and four;
The white men wrought, and waked, and slept
Secure on the Eastern Shore;
From the door of his hut, old Massasoit
Noted their swift increase,
And blessed the day he had sent that way
His messenger of peace.





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