Page:Tale of Paraguay - Southey.djvu/137

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I said that for herself the patient maid Preferr'd no prayer; but oft her feeble tongue And feebler breath a voice of praise essay'd; And duly when the vesper bell was rung, Her evening hymn in faint accord she sung So piously, that they who gathered round Awe-stricken on her heavenly accents hung, As tho' they thought it were no mortal sound. But that the place whereon they stood was holy ground.

At such an hour when Dobrizhoffer stood Beside her bed, oh how unlike, he thought This voice to that which ringing thro' the wood Had led him to the secret bower he sought! And was it then for this that he had brought That harmless household from their native shade? Death had already been the mother's lot; And this fair Mooma, was she form'd to fade So soon,—so soon must she in earth's cold lap be laid?