An Aboriginal Mother’s Lament
http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/H/HarpurCharles/verse/poems/motherslament.html |
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—
For but 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—
For but 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—
For but a single palmful Of water now for thee.
Meaning of each paragraph.
First paragragh means, the mother is talking about how she escaped from the murdereres. And what condition she was in when escaping.
Second paragraph is saying that after the escaped they needed water to survive.
Third paragraph is sayin ,That someone from her tribe has been burnt to ashes and is a bad experience for someone to experience.
Fourth paragragh is saying the same as paragraph 2.
fifth paragraph is saying, she saw a lot of people from her family die such as her father.
Sixth paragraph is the ame as paragraph 2.
seventh paragraph is saying that there not going to hear there tribe hunters shout noone because they have all been slaughter.
it has line at the back of the wirtting which makes it hard to read.
its in green and you cant unerstand what it is about, and the writting is very small.
the backround is more attractive then the writing.