Legend of the Cherokee Rose

From History of Hillsborough County, Florida by Arthur H. Cawston.

Legend of the Cherokee Rose
by Unknown

A Seminole warrior wooed for his bride,
A Cherokee maiden, his foeman's pride;
As they fled together, the trembling maid
For a last long look at her old home stayed.

On the rude lodge roof the blossoms white
Glowed like stars in the soft moonlight;
With tears in her eyes, the Indian bride
Broke a spray that grew by the portal's side-

To a Florida home she bare it then
To brighten her lodge in the stranger's glen,
And oft to her children the tale she told
Of the alien and the lover bold.

And wherever the waters go stealing by
In that land of bloom and cloudless sky,
The Cherokee rose wreaths the forest wild
And dreams it shelters the Indian child.

An hundred years and warrior and bride
In forgotten graves lie side by side;
Yet over them climbs and blooms and grows
The lover's flower, the Cherokee rose.