THE SEMINOLE'S DEFIANCE
by George Washington Patten

Blaze, with your serried columns !
I will not bend the knee !
The shackles ne'er again shall bind
The arm which now is free.
I've mailed it with the thunder,
When the tempest muttered low ;
And where it falls, ye well may dread
The lightning of its blow!

I've scared ye in the city,
I've scalped ye on the plain;
Go, count your chosen where they fell
Beneath my leaden rain!
I scorn your proffered treaty !
The pale-face I defy !
Revenge is stamped upon my spear,
And "blood" my battle-cry !

Some strike for hope of booty;
Some to defend their all;
I battle for the joy I have To see the white man fall ;
I love, among the wounded,
To hear his dying moan,
And catch, while chanting at his side,
The music of his groan.

Ye've trailed me through the forest!
Ye've tracked me o'er the stream !
And, struggling through the Everglade,
Your bristling bayonets gleam ;
But I stand as should the warrior,
With his rifle and his spear ;
The scalp of vengeance still is red,
And warns ye, come not here !

Think ye to find my homestead? —
I gave it to the fire.
My tawny household do you seek? —
I am a childless sire.
But, should you crave life's nourishment,
Enough I have and good;
I live on hate, — 'tis all my bread ;
Yet light is not my food.

I loathe ye in my bosom !
I scorn ye with mine eye !
And I'll taunt ye with my latest breath,
And fight ye till I die!
I ne'er will ask for quarter,
And I ne'er will be your slave ;
But I'll swim the sea of slaughter
Till I sink beneath its wave !