From “Twasinta’s Seminoles” (Canto I, X)

Fair Florida! whose scenes could so enhance—
Could in the sweetness of the earth excel!
Wast thou the Seminole’s inheritance?
Yea, it was thee he loved, and loved so well!
’Twas ’neath thy palms and pines he strove to dwell.
Not savage, but resentful to the knife,
For thee he sternly struggled—sternly fell!
Thoughtful and brave, in long uneven strife,
He held the verge of manhood mid dark hights of life.