The Indian's Prayer

"The Indian's Prayer" is a popular song with music composed by I.B. Woodbury in 1846. The 1833 original lyric, used in altered form, was published as "The Indian's Entreaty" in a Universalist journal by Rev. John Perry, a Pennsylvania minister. The poem was claimed to reflect the likely thoughts of a boy described as having left (or escaped) "some years ago" from "one of many colleges" to return to his native tribe.

Woodbury, a composer of religious music, dedicated the song to his friend and student L.O. Emerson, Esq.

A setting of the text (similar to Woodbury's version) appears in William Walker's Southern Harmony and Christian Harmony, under the title "The Indian's Petition".

Lyrics

Rev. Perry's original poem, in 11-syllable lines:

:''Let me go to my home in the far, far west,''
:''To the scenes of my youth, which I love the best.''
:''Where cedars are green, and the bright waters flow,''
:''Where kindred will greet me—white man let me go.''

:''I long for the spot where the cataract plays,''
:''Where I've sported so free in my infant days,''
:''And the deep forest, too, where with quiver and bow,''
:''I've chas'd the wild deer—Oh! there let me go.''

:''Let me go to the hills and vallies so fair,''
:''Let me breath in freedom my own mountain air;''
:''And to my poor mother whose heart will o'erflow,''
:''When she looks on her boy—to her let me go.''

:''Let me go to my sire, by whose vet'ran side''
:''I have march'd to the fight in my spirits pride;''
:''With him I have conquer'd the insolent foe—''
:''To that Chieftain-father, once more let me go.''

:''And oh! let me go to my dark-eyed maid;''
:''We've climbed o'er the hill-tops, repos'd in the glade,''
:''As the fawn she's gentle, her heart, pure as snow,''
:''And she loves the poor Indian—oh! let me go.''

:''Then let me away to my own forest home,''
:''And ne'er from it again, will I wish to roam—''
:''Oh! there let my ashes in peace be laid low''
:''To my home in the west, white man, let me go.''

:''Disdaining their fetters, the Indians proud soul,''
:''Could not bend in submission, or brook their control—''
:''But free, as the wind, with morning's first dawn,''
:''To his lov'd forest home, the red boy had gone!''

The lyrics as they appear in Woodbury's original sheet music: have been altered from the original by an unknown hand, mainly to be in 12-syllable lines rather than 11. Several undated broadsides titled "Indian Hunter" offer variants on these words.
:''Let me go to my home in the far distant west,''
:''To the scenes of my childhood in innocence blest;''
:''Where the tall cedars wave and the bright waters flow,''
:''Where my fathers repose. Let me go, let me go.''
:''Where my fathers repose. Let me go, let me go.''

:''Let me go to the spot where the cataract plays,''
:''Where oft I have sported in boyhood’s bright days,''
:''And greet my poor mother, whose heart will o’erflow''
:''At the sight of the child. Let me go, let me go.''
:''At the sight of the child. Let me go, let me go.''

:''Let me go to my sire, by whose battlescar’d side,''
:''I have sported so oft in the morn of my pride,''
:''And exulted to conquer the insolent foe,''
:''To my father, the chief, let me go, let me go.''
:''To my father, the chief, let me go, let me go.''

:''And oh! let me go to my flashing eyed maid,''
:''Who taught me to love, ’neath the green willow’s shade,''
:''Whose heart, like the fawn’s, leaps as pure as the snow,''
:''To the bosom it loves. Let me go, let me go.''
:''To the bosom it loves. Let me go, let me go.''

:''And oh! let me go to my wild forest home—''
:''No more from its life-cheering pleasures to roam.''
:''’Neath the groves of the glen, let my ashes lie low—''
:''To my home in the woods, let me go, let me go.''
:''To my home in the woods, let me go, let me go.''

References

Bibliography

*Woodbury, I.B. (m.); Anonymous (w.). "The Indian's Prayer" (Sheet music). Boston: E.H. Wade (1846).

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1846 songs