note
The not unnatural conclusion of Verrazzano that what he saw was an ocean or a great inland sea led to extraordinary misconceptions in the maps and charts of the time. It was not until the early part of the seventeenth century that the region was actually explored, by Newport and Smith, and found to be only Chesapeake Bay.
THE DRUM
I wake the gods with my sullen boom— am the Drum! They wait for the blood-red flowers that bloom In the heart of the sacrifice, there in the gloom With terror dumb— I sound the call to his dreadful doom— I am the Drum!
I was the Serpent, the Sacred Snake— Wolf, bear and fox By the silent shores of river and lake Tread softly, listening lest they wake My voice that mocks The rattle that falling bones will make On barren rocks.
My banded skin is the voice of the Priest— I am the Drum! I sound the call to the War-God's feast Till Tezcatlipoca's power hath ceased And the White Gods come Out of the fire of the burning East— Hear me, the Drum!