LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,120)
  • Text Authors (19,527)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807 - 1892)

The Dark eye has left us
Language: English 
The Dark eye has left us,
     The Spring-bird has flown;
On the pathway of spirits
     She wanders alone.
The song of the wood-dove has died on our shore:
     Mat wonck kunna-monee! We hear it no more!

O dark water Spirit!
     We cast on thy wave
These furs which may never
     Hang over her grave;
Bear down to the lost one the robes that she wore:
     Mat wonck kunna-monee! We see her no more!

Of the strange land she walks in
     No Powah has told:
It may burn with the sunshine,
     Or freeze with the cold.
Let us give to our lost one the robes that she wore:
     Mat wonck kunna-monee! We see her no more!

The path she is treading
     Shall soon be our own;
Each gliding in shadow
     Unseen and alone!
In vain shall we call on the souls gone before:
     Mat wonck kunna-monee! They hear us no more!

O mighty Sowanna!
     Thy gateways unfold,
From thy wigwam of sunset
     Lift curtains of gold!
Take home the poor Spirit whose journey is o'er:
     Mat wonck kunna-monee! We see her no more!

So sang the Children of the Leaves beside
     The broad, dark river's coldly flowing tide;
Now low, now harsh, with sob-like pause and swell,
     On the high wind their voices rose and fell.
Nature's wild music, -- sounds of wind-swept trees,
     The scream of birds, the wailing of the breeze,
The roar of waters, steady, deep, and strong, --
     Mingled and murmured in that farewell song.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume 1, Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1888-89, pages 106-107.

Note from Roger Williams's Key for stanzas 1 through 5, line 6: "Mat wonck kunna-monee" = "We shall see thee or her no more."
Note from Roger Williams's Observations, etc. for stanza 5, line 1: "Sowanna" = The Great South West God.


Text Authorship:

  • by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807 - 1892), "Song of Indian women", written 1844 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912), "The dark eye has left us", op. 45 no. 4 (1901), published 1903 [ voice and piano ], from Six American Lyrics, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2022-01-06
Line count: 38
Word count: 246

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris