Page:Moyarra- An Australian Legend in Two Cantos, 1891.djvu/20

 Am I not here thy foes to chase As thus the tear from thy dear face? Methinks the caitiff I could bless Who drove thee thus to my caress; Who quelled for me those vain alarms Which held thee from my longing arms." The dark blood mantling in her face, The maiden flew to his embrace; Her head upon his breast reclining, Her swimming eyes the while declining, She lent his tale a willing ear, And sighed, assenting to his prayer. The night-enamoured cuckoo's call3 Aroused them from their pleasing thrall,— One raptured glance around he took. Then silence thus Moyarra broke:— "Such was the night, and such the hour My country to defend I swore; That oath I've sacred kept, and now I pledge me to a tenderer vow. By those all-hallowed rites I swear, Whose mysteries not thyself may'st share, While yet within these throbbing veins One feeble pulse of life remains.