Classic Poem

Once, as she stray'd, by gentle labour led,
Drying soft skins to deck her lover's bed,
Nornsuck, a mighty chief among their swains,
Return'd from hunting o'er the distant plains;
The lovely maid he view'd, with soft surprize,
An instant victim to her conqu'ring eyes;
Fair without gaudy pomp, or studied art,
Her native beauty struck the hero's heart;
By Love o'er-aw'd, whose pow'r he now first knew,
Speechless he gaz'd, and wist not what to do;
But ready Hope her flatt'ring counsel lends,
And bids him gain the fair one by her friends;
For much he fear'd his suit to Ajutt vain,
Yet blest the absence of her favour'd swain;
Revolv'd with joy his birth, his mighty store,
For great his wealth, no Greenland swain had more;
On these depends her parents' faith to try,
And hopes their pow'r might win her to comply;
Yet first presumes his passion to disclose,
And o'er her neck a dappled deer-skin throws;
This with disdain the faithful maid returns,
Then for her Anningait afresh she mourns:
Her father's distant hutt the hero sought,
His worth explain'd, and ev'ry tender thought;
The glitt'ring bait their abject minds allures,
And the new lover soon his wish procures.