I venerate the Pilgrim's cause

I venerate the Pilgrim's cause, Yet for the red man dare to plead— We bow to Heaven's recorded laws, He turned to nature for a creed; Beneath the pillared dome, We seek our God in prayer; Through boundless woods he loved to roam, And the Great Spirit worshipped there: But one, one fellow-throb with us he felt; To one divinity with us he knelt; Freedom, the self-same freedom we adore, Bade him defend his violated shore; He saw the cloud, ordained to grow, And burst upon his hills in wo; He saw his people withering by, Beneath the invader's evil eye; Strange feet were trampling on his fathers' bones; At midnight hour he woke to gaze Upon his happy cabin's blaze, And listen to his children's dying groans: He saw—and maddening at the sight, Gave his bold bosom to the fight; To tiger rage his soul was driven, Mercy was not—nor sought nor given; The pale man from his lands must fly; He would be free—or he would die.