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Home  »  Poetry: A Magazine of Verse  »  Frank S. Gordon

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.

The Tom-tom

Frank S. Gordon

From “Along the South Star Trail”
Tribal Songs from the South-west

DRUM-BEAT, beat of drums,

Pebble-rattle in the gourd,

Pebble feet on drifting sand …

Drum-beat, beat of drums—

I have lost the wife-made robe of bear-skin …

Take the prize—mine the loss.

Have I lost too the courage of the black bear—

His power, his thunder?

Lul-la-by,

Games’ queer lullaby …

O robe of mine!—

O luck of mine!

Drum-beat, beat of drums,

Pebble-rattle in the gourd,

Coyote feet upon the plain …

Drum-beat, beat of drums—

Coyotes crushed the tender ham-string and the bone …

A bull-calf bawls, dies alone.

Where are the herds of buffalo and the hides,

The meat, the tepees?

Lul-la-by,

Man’s dread lullaby …

O home of mine!

O life of mine!

Drum-beat, beat of drums,

Pebble-rattle in the gourd,

Horse-hoof beat upon the ground …

Drum-beat, beat of drums—

By Wounded Knee ye buried them, buried them—

Red men’s flesh, their bones …

By Wounded Knee we buried them, buried them.

The songs we sung, the dreams….

Lul-la-by,

The white man’s lullaby …

O race of mine!

O brothers mine!

Drum-beat, beat of drums,

Pebble-rattle in the gourd,

Pulse-beat in the fever …

Drum-beat, beat of drums—

Famine drank from the gourd bottle, ate the gourd;

Left the skin, the bone.

She walked the pathway from the east, of the departed—

Left me forsaken, alone….

Lul-la-by,

Tirawa’s long lullaby …

O blood of mine!

O child of mine!

Drum-beat, beat of drums,

Pebble-rattle in the gourd.

Still feet in the grave-mound …

Drum-beat, beat of drums—

The gourd-rattle handle leads to the sun and life;

Leaves clay, leaves cold.

A purple smoke arises from bowl to float on winds;

Leaves ashes—my ash….

Lul-la-by,

Death’s sweet lullaby …

O flesh of mine!

O hands of mine!

Drum-beat, beat of drums,

Pebble-rattle in the gourd,

Dream-feet in the yellow line …

Drum-beat, beat of drums—

One half the feather of Tirawa’s bird is white;

The other black—’tis night;

Tirawa’s song at night is morning star of dawn

Where dance dreams, in light….

Lul-la-by,

The spirit’s lullaby …

O soul of mine!

O breath of mine!

Drum-beat, beat of drums,

Pebble-rattle in the gourd,

Calves’ feet in starry plains …

Drum-beat, beat of drums—

A sacred herd graze on tips of fair fresh flowers

In garden—Star of Evening’s.

A bison drinks mixed all-waters, pure

From Spring; ’tis hers….

Lul-la-by,

All-Life’s lullaby …

O land of mine!

O plains of mine!

Drum-beat, beat of drums,

Pebble-rattle in the gourd,

Dance-feet ’round the sun …

Drum-beat, beat of drums—

By the sun see the dancing white men with the red—

By Wounded Knee, a post!

There they blend their songs together, brother-wise;

Here the post, the paint….

Lul-la-by,

The Nation’s lullaby …

O race of mine!

O brothers mine!

Drum-beat, beat of drums,

Pebble-rattle in the gourd,

Child feet in the hogan …

Drum-beat, beat of drums—

A child has taught her little spider pet to weave

Bead-work at my door;

A child has taught these dimming eyes to see

Thread-work, star-lit lodge …

Lul-la-by,

Love’s own lullaby …

O hogan mine!

O hogan thine!

Drum-beat, beat of drums,

Pebble-rattle in the gourd,

Soul-feet in trail of wind….

Drum-beat, beat of drums—

Hear the great sea-feet, beating on the flint-rock!

Drum-beat, beat of drum—

Hear the beat of distant feet on South Star Trail!

Drum-beat, beat of drum—

Ti-ra-wa!

Earth’s great Ti-ra-wa.

O heart-beat thine!

O drum-beat thine!