A Cry from an Indian Wife (1885)
“My forest brave, my Red-skin love, farewell;
We may not meet to-morrow; who can tell
What mighty ills befall our little band,
Or what you’ll suffer from the white man’s hand?
Here is your knife! I thought ’twas sheathed for aye.
No roaming bison calls for it to-day;
No hide of prairie cattle will it maim;”
QUOTES
Take note of various themes throughout Johnson's poems and quotes. Most noticeably are the references to her indigenous background alongside key issues happening to native people while she was alive. Through her poems you can navigate her feelings towards having mixed ethnic backgrounds and its effects on her. Check some out below!
OJISTOH
“The weapon softly - I love you, love you, I whispered, love you as my life.
And - buried in his back his scalping knife.
Ha! how I rode, rode as a sea wind-chased,
Mad with sudden freedom, mad with haste,
Back to my Mohawk and my home."
AS RED MEN DIE
“Captive! But never conquered; Mohawk brave
Stoops not to be to any man a slave
Least, to the puny tribe his soul abhors,
The tribe whose wigwams sprinkle shores.
With scowling brow he stands and courage high,
Watching with haughty and defiant eye
His captors, as they council o'er his fate,
Or strive his boldness to intimidate.
Then fling they unto him the choice;”