Page:Songs from the Southern Seas and Other Poems (1873).djvu/173



AUNT in the midst of the prairie,
 * She who was once so fair;

Charred and rent are her garments, Heavy and dark like cerements;
 * Silent, but round her the air

Plaintively wails, "Miserere!"

Proud like a beautiful maiden,
 * Art-like from forehead to feet.

Was she till pressed like a leman Close to the breast of the demon,
 * Lusting for one so sweet.

So were her shoulders laden.