Classic Poem

(Who Turned Renegade and Lived with the Indians)

By what appalling dim upheaval
— Demolishing some kinder plan,
Did you become incarnate evil
— Wearing the livery of man?

Perhaps you hated cheeks of tallow,
— Dead eyes, and lineaments of chalk,
Until a beauty came to hallow
— Even the bloodiest tomahawk.

Perhaps you loathed your brothers' features
— Pallid and pinched, or greasy-fat;
Perhaps you loved these alien creatures
— Clean muscled as a panther cat.

Did you believe that being cruel
— Was that which made their foreheads lift
So proudly, gave their eyes a jewel,
— And turned their padding footsteps swift?

As one by one our faiths are shaken
— Our hatreds fall; so mine for you.
Of course I think you were mistaken;
— But still, I see your point of view.