HECCAR AND GAIRA AN AFRICAN ECLOGUE. Thomas Chatterton Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
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Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T48948 K045459.000 Chatterton, Thomas, 1752-1770. A Supplement to the Miscellanies of Thomas Chatterton London printed for T. Becket, in Pall-Mall; Bookseller to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and Their Royal Highnesses the Princes. MDCCLXXXIV. 1784 pp. 53-59. [6],ii,88p.; 8⁰.

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HECCAR AND GAIRA AN AFRICAN ECLOGUE . JAN. 3 , 1770. WHERE the rough Caigra rolls the surgy wave , Urging his thunders thro the distant Echoing and distant , copied from the Boy's own hand ; both uncancelled . cave ; Where the sharp rocks , in distant horror seen , Drive the white currents thro' the spreading green ; Where the loud Tyger , pawing in his rage , Bids the black Archers of the wilds engage ; Stretch'd on the sand , two panting Warriors lay , In all the burning torments of the day ; Their bloody jav'lins reek'd on living steem Their bows were broken at the roaring stream : Heccar the Chief of Jarra's fruitful Hill , Where the dark vapours nightly dews distill , Saw Gaira the companion of his soul , Extended where loud Caigra's billows roll ; Gaira , the King of warring Archers found , Where daily lightnings plow the sandy ground , Where brooding tempests howl along the sky , Where rising desarts whirl'd in circles fly . HECCAR . Gaira , 'tis useless to attempt the chace , Swifter than hunted Wolves they urge the race ; Their lessening forms elude the straining eye , Upon the plumage of Macaws they fly . Let us return , and strip the reeking slain Leaving the bodies on the burning plain . GAIRA . Heccar , my vengeance still exclaims for blood , 'Twould drink a wider stream than Caigra's flood . This jav'lin , oft in nobler quarrels try'd , Put the loud thunder of their arms aside . Fast as the streaming rain , I pour'd the dart , Hurling a whirlwind thro' the trembling heart : But now my lingring feet revenge denies , O could I throw my javlin from my eyes ! HECCAR . When Gaira the united armies broke , Death wing'd the arrow ; Death impell'd the stroke . See , pil'd in mountains , on the sanguine sand The blasted of the lightnings of thy hand . Search the brown desart , and the glossy green ; There are the trophies of thy valour seen . The scatter'd bones mantled in silver white , Once animated , dared the force Query , whether not intended for foes ? in fight . The Children of the Wave , whose palid race Views the faint sun , display a languid face , From the red fury of thy justice fled , Swifter than torrents from their rocky bed . Fear with a sicken'd silver ting'd their hue : The guilty fear , when vengeance is their due . GAIRA . Rouse not Remembrance from her shad'wy cell , Nor of those bloody sons of mischief tell . Cawna , O Cawna ! deck'd in sable charms , What distant region holds thee from my arms ? Cawna , the pride of Afric's sultry vales , Soft as the cooling murmur of the gales , Majestic as the many colour'd Snake , Trailing his glories thro' the blossom'd brake ; Black as the glossy rocks , where Eascal roars , Foaming thro' sandy wastes to Jaghirs shores ; Swift as the arrow , hasting to the breast , Was Cawna the companion of my rest . The sun sat low'ring in the Western sky , The swelling tempest spread around the eye ; Upon my Cawna's bosom I reclind , Catching the breathing whispers of the wind : Swift from the wood a prowling Tiger came ; Dreadful his voice , his eyes a glowing flame ; I bent the bow , the never-erring dart Pierc'd his rough armour , but escap'd his heart ; He fled , tho' wounded , to a distant waste , I urg'd the furious flight with fatal haste ; He fell , he dy'd — spent in the fiery toil , I stripid his carcase of the furry spoil And as the varied spangles met my eye , On this , I cried , shall my lov'd Cawna lie . The dusky midnight hung the skies in grey ; Impell'd by Love , I wing'd the airy way ; In the deep valley and the mossy plain , I sought my Cawna , but I sought in vain . The pallid shadows of the azure waves Had made my Cawna and my children slaves . Reflection maddens , to recall the hour , The Gods had giv'n me to the Daemon's power . The dusk slow vanish'd from the hated lawn , I gain'd a mountain glaring with the dawn . There the full sails , expanded to the wind , Struck horror and distraction in my mind , There Cawna mingled with a worthless train , In common slav'ry drags the hated chain . Now judge my Heccar , have I cause for rage ? Should aught the thunder of my arm assuage ? In ever-reeking blood this jav'lin dy'd With vengeance shall be never satisfied : I'll strew the beaches with the mighty dead And tinge the lily of their features red . HECCAR . When the loud shriekings of the hostile cry Roughly salute my ear , enrag'd I'll fly ; Send the sharp arrow quivering thro' the heart Chill the hot vitals with the venom'd dart ; Nor heed the shining steel or noisy smoke , Gaira and Vengeance shall inspire the stroke .