Let them rest, for oh ! remember, that in long here-
after time

Sons of Science oft shall wander o'er that solitary
clime !

Cities bright shall rise about it. Age and Beauty
there shall stray,

And the fathers of the people, pointing to the
graves, shall say :

" Here they fell, the glorious martyrs ! when these
plains were woodlands deep ;

Here a friend, a brother, laid them ; here the wild
men came to weep."



KOOROORA

'T'HE gums in the gully stand gloomy and stark,

A torrent beneath them is leaping,
And the wind goes about like a ghost in the dark

Where a chief of Wahibbi lies sleeping !
He dreams of a battle — of foes of the past.
But he hears not the whooping abroad on the blast,
Nor the fall of the feet that are travelling fast.
Oh, why dost thou slumber, Kooroora ?



They come o'er the hills in their terrible ire,
And speed by the woodlands and water ;

They look down the hills at the flickering fire.
All eager and thirsty for slaughter.
Lo ! the stormy moon glares like a torch from the
vale.
And a voice in the beela grows wild in its wail.
As the cries of the Wanneroos swell with the gale —
Oh ! rouse thee, and meet them, Kooroora.
270



KOOROORA 271

He starts from his sleep, and he clutches his spear^

And the echoes roll backward in wonder,
For a shouting strikes into the hollow woods near,

Like the sound of a gathering thunder.
He clambers the ridge, with his face to the light,
The foes of Wahibbi come full in his sight —
The waters of Mooki will redden to-night.
Go ! and glory awaits thee, Kooroora.
