The Hunter's Wooing

University of Oklahoma Magazine 10 (October 1, 1921):4.

By Ruth Margaret Muskrat

Come roam the wild hills, my Cherokee Rose,

Come roam the wild hills with me.

We'll follow the path where the Spavinaw[1] flows,

Dashing wild on its way to the sea,

On its wearisome way to the sea.

We'll chase the fleet deer from its lair in the woods;

We'll follow the wolf to his den.

When the sun hides his face, we'll rest in the woods,

Hid away from the worry of men,

Hid away from the bother of men.

And then we'll go home, my Cherokee Rose,

Where the Senacas[2] live in the heart of the hills

By the rippling Cowskin,[3] where the Saulchana[4] grows,

We'll go home to the Coyauga[5] hills,

To the sheltering Coyauga hills.

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[1] Spavinaw Creek, located in eastern Oklahoma, Cherokee Nation; present day Oklahoma.

[2] Refers to a group of Senecas who were removed from New York purchased land from the Cherokee Nation, in the Northeast corner of Oklahoma.

[3] Cowskin Creek flows through Cowskin Prairie in Eastern Oklahoma.

[4] Plant that grows in the region.

[5] Could refer to The Cayuga Nation of New York, who like the Senecas were part of the Six Iroquois Tribe of Nations; or could simply mean the Seneca man in the poem renames the Oklahoma land "Coyauga Hills."