Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AN ABORIGINAL MOTHER'S LAMENT, by CHARLES HARPUR Poet's Biography First Line: Still farther would I fly, my child Last Line: Of water now for thee. Subject(s): Aborigines, Australian | ||||||||
[About the year 1842 a party of stockmen, several of whom were afterwards hanged for the crime, made a wholesale slaughter of a small tribe of defenceless blacks; one woman only, with her infant, escaped from the murderers.] Still farther would I fly, my child, To make thee safer yet, From the unsparing white man, With his dread hand murder-wet! I'll bear thee on as I have borne With stealthy steps wind-fleet, But the dark night shrouds the forest, And thorns are in my feet. O moan not! I would give this braid -- Thy father's gift to me -- But for a single palmful Of water now for thee. Ah! Spring not to his name -- no more To glad us may he come! -- He is smouldering into ashes Beneath the blasted gum! All charred and blasted by the fire The white man kindled there, And fed with our slaughtered kindred Till heaven-high went its glare! O moan not! I would give this braid -- Thy father's gift to me -- But for a single palmful Of water now for thee. And but for thee, I would their fire Had eaten me as fast! Hark! Hark! I hear his death-cry Yet lengthening up the blast! But no -- when that we should fly, On the roaring pyre flung bleeding -- I saw thy father die! O moan not! I would give this braid -- Thy father's gift to me -- But for a single palmful Of water now for thee. No more shall his loud tomahawk Be plied to win our cheer, Or the shining fish-pools darken Beneath his shadowing spear; The fading tracks of his fleet foot Shall guide not as before, And the mountain-spirits mimic His hunting call no more! O moan not! I would give this braid -- Thy father's gift to me -- But for a single palmful Of water now for thee. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MAC'S HALF-CASTE by E. S. EMERSON MICK DOOLEY'S PANTS by GEORGE ESSEX EVANS ON THE ARROW TRACK by J. H. G. A MAN PROSPECTING by J. E. LIDDLE THE COROBBOREE (MIDNIGHT) by WILLIAM SHARP THE LAST ABORIGINAL by WILLIAM SHARP POWELL'S REVENGE by F. C. URQUHART A MIDSUMMER'S NOON IN THE AUSTRALIAN FOREST by CHARLES HARPUR |
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