"To the Miskodeed" (Spring beauty} || Poem by Jane Johnston Schoolcraft

Sweet pink of northern wood and glen,
E’er first to greet the eyes of men
In early spring,—a tender flower
Whilst still the wintry wind hath power.
How welcome, in the sunny glade,
Or hazel copse, thy pretty head
Oft peeping out whilst still the snow,
Doth here and there, its presence show
Soon leaf and bud quick opening spread
Thy modest petals—white with red
Like some sweet cherub—love’s kind link,
With dress of white, adorned with pink

“One of the first spring wildflowers, the miskodeed or miscodeed (in Ojibwe), or Spring Beauty or Claytonia virginica (in Latin). Typically white with pink veins, though sometimes it is all pink"

Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, (1800 –1842) also known as Bamewawagezhikaquay is one of earliest Native American literary writers. She was of Ojibwa and Scots-Irish ancestry and was fluent in both English and Ojibwe. In 1823, she married Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. Jane Johnston Schoolcraft wrote poetry and translated Ojibwe stories, legends and songs. Most of her was published in adapted, unattributed versions by her husband, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, an explorer, ethnologist and writer who eventually became Superintendent for Indian Affairs.
In 2007 Robert Dale Parker A University of Illinois professor of English and American Indian Studies, published a book named after Jane Johnson Schoolcraf,t Ojibwe name translated to English "Woman of the Sound Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky: The Writings of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft" where "he presents a collection of all Schoolcraft's extant writings along with a cultural and biographical history".This poem is is a translation of an original poem written in Ojibwe. The Poem is in the public domain More