There came a Youth from Georgia’s shore—­
  A military casque he wore, 20
  With splendid feathers drest; [A]
  He brought them from the Cherokees;
  The feathers nodded in the breeze,
  And made a gallant crest.

  From Indian blood you deem him sprung:  25
  But no! [5] he spake the English tongue,
  And bore [6] a soldier’s name;
  And, when America was free
  From battle and from jeopardy,
  He ’cross the ocean came. 30

  With hues of genius on his cheek
  In finest tones the Youth could speak: 
—­While he was yet a boy,
  The moon, the glory of the sun,
  And streams that murmur as they run, 35
  Had been his dearest joy.

  He was a lovely Youth!  I guess
  The panther in the wilderness
  Was not so fair as he;
  And, when he chose to sport and play, 40
  No dolphin ever was so gay
  Upon the tropic sea.

  Among the Indians he had fought,
  And with him many tales he brought
  Of pleasure and of fear; 45
  Such tales as told to any maid
  By such a Youth, in the green shade,
  Were perilous to hear.

  He told of girls—­a happy rout! 
  Who quit their fold with dance and shout, 50
  Their pleasant Indian town,
  To gather strawberries all day long;
  Returning with a choral song
  When daylight is gone down.

  He spake of plants that hourly change 55
  Their blossoms, through a boundless range
  Of intermingling hues; [7] [B]
  With budding, fading, faded flowers
  They stand the wonder of the bowers
  From morn to evening dews, [C] 60
  [8]
  He told of the magnolia, [D] spread
  High as a cloud, high over head! 
  The cypress and her spire; [E]
—­Of flowers [F] that with one scarlet gleam
  Cover a hundred leagues, and seem 65
  To set the hills on fire. [G]

  The Youth of green savannahs spake,
  And many an endless, endless lake,
  With all its fairy crowds
  Of islands, that together lie 70
  As quietly as spots of sky
  Among the evening clouds. [H]

  “How pleasant,” then he said, “it were [9]
  A fisher or a hunter there,
  In sunshine or in shade 75
  To wander with an easy mind;
  And build a household fire, and find [10]
  A home in every glade!

  “What days and what bright [11] years!  Ah me! 
  Our life were life indeed, with thee 80
  So passed in quiet bliss,
  And all the while,” said he, “to know
  That we were in a world of woe,
  On such an earth as this!”

  And then he sometimes interwove 85
  Fond [12] thoughts about a father’s love: 
  “For there,” said he, “are spun
  Around the heart such tender ties,
  That our own children to our eyes
  Are dearer than the sun. 90