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&mdash;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&mdash;
 * No more from its life-cheering pleasures to roam.
 * ’Neath the groves of the glen, let my ashes lie low&mdash;
 * To my home in the woods, let me go, let me go.
 * To my home in the woods, let me go, let me go.