An Aboriginal Mothers's Lament Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AB C DEFEGHIHJKLK BMNMBBOB JKLK BPBPBQB JKBK RBSBTBUB JKBK| An Aboriginal Mother s Lament | A |
| Charles Harpur | B |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| About the year 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 | C |
| - | |
| Still farther would I fly my child | D |
| To make thee safer yet | E |
| From the unsparing white man | F |
| With his dread hand murder wet | E |
| I ll bear thee on as I have borne | G |
| With stealthy steps wind fleet | H |
| But the dark night shrouds the forest | I |
| And thorns are in my feet | H |
| O moan not I would give this braid | J |
| Thy father s gift to me | K |
| But for a single palmful | L |
| Of water now for thee | K |
| - | |
| Ah Spring not to his name no more | B |
| To glad us may he come | M |
| He is smouldering into ashes | N |
| Beneath the blasted gum | M |
| All charred and blasted by the fire | B |
| The white man kindled there | B |
| And fed with our slaughtered kindred | O |
| Till heaven high went its glare | B |
| - | |
| O moan not I would give this braid | J |
| Thy father s gift to me | K |
| For but a single palmful | L |
| Of water now for thee | K |
| - | |
| And but for thee I would their fire | B |
| Had eaten me as fast | P |
| Hark Hark I hear his death cry | B |
| Yet lengthening up the blast | P |
| But no when that we should fly | B |
| On the roaring pyre flung bleeding | Q |
| I saw thy father die | B |
| - | |
| O moan not I would give this braid | J |
| Thy father s gift to me | K |
| For but a single palmful | B |
| Of water now for thee | K |
| - | |
| No more shall his loud tomahawk | R |
| Be plied to win our cheer | B |
| Or the shining fish pools darken | S |
| Beneath his shadowing spear | B |
| The fading tracks of his fleet foot | T |
| Shall guide not as before | B |
| And the mountain spirits mimic | U |
| His hunting call no more | B |
| - | |
| O moan not I would give this braid | J |
| Thy father s gift to me | K |
| For but a single palmful | B |
| Of water now for thee | K |
Charles Harpur
(1)
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An Aboriginal Mothers's Lament is a poem by Charles Harpur. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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