The Riverside song book/The Death of Minnehaha

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Layout 2

THE DEATH OF MINNEHAHA.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Andantino. Charles C. Converse.

1. In the wig - wam with No - ko - mis,

2. "No, my child!" said old No - ko - mis,

3. "No, my child!" said old No - ko - mis,

With those gloom - y guests that watched her,

'"Tis the night - wind in the pine - trees!"—

'"Tis the smoke, that waves and beck - ons!"—

With the fam - ine and the fev - er. She was ly - ing,

"No, my child!" said old No - ko - mis, "'Tis the night -wind

"No, my child!" said old No - ko - mis, "'Tis the smoke, that

Fine.

Min - ne - ha - ha.

in the pine - trees!"

waves and beck - ons!"

Fine.

"Hark!" she said; "I hear a rush - ing,

"Look!" she said; "I see my fa - ther

"Ah!" said she, "the eyes of Pau - guk

Hear a roar - ing and a rush - ing,

Stand - ing lone - ly at his door - way,

Glare up - on me in the dark - ness,

Hear the Falls of Min - ne - ha - ha,

Beck - 'ning to me from his wig - wam

I can feel his i - cy fin - gers—

Call - ing to me from a dis - tance!"

In the land of the Da - co - tahs!"

Hi - a - wa - tha! Hi - a - wa - tha!"

4 And the des'late Hiawatha,
Far away amid the forest,
Heard the voice of Minnehaha
Calling to him in the darkness.
Over snow-fields waste and pathless,
Homeward hurried Hiawatha,
Empty-handed, heavy-hearted,
Heard Nokomis moaning, wailing:

5 "Wahonowin! Wahonowin!
Would that I had perished for you,
Would that I were dead as you are!
Wahonowin! Wahanowin!"
And he rushed into the wigwam,
Saw Nokomis rocking, moaning,
Saw his lovely Minnehaha
Lying dead and cold before him.

6 And his bursting heart within him
Uttered such a cry of anguish,
That the very stars in heaven
Shook and trembled with his anguish.
Then he sat down, still and speechless,
On the bed of Minnehaha,

At those willing feet that never
More would lightly run to meet him.

7 With both hands his face he covered,
Seven long days and nights he sat there
As if in a swoon, unconscious
Of the daylight or the darkness.
Then they buried Minnehaha,
Underneath the moaning hemlocks;
Clothed her in her richest garments,
Covered her with snow, like ermine.

8 And at night a fire was lighted.
On her grave four times was kindled,
For her soul upon its journey
To the Islands of the Blessed.
From his sleepless bed uprising,
Hiawatha stood and watched it.
"Farewell!" said he, "Minnehaha!
"Farewell, O my Laughing Water!

From beginning to Fine.)

9 All my heart is buried with you.
All my thoughts go onward with you I
Soon your footsteps I shall follow
To the Islands of the Blessed!"