A dreamless, suave security

Seemed brooding o'er the valley's golden slumber,

Whence rang or flashed no hint of lurking peril.

I dropped to earth,

And crouching low,

I stole yet nearer

Through the brake:

Till, drawing nigh the cavern-mouth,

I heard the sound of half-hushed sobbing:

And then I saw, within the gloom,

My mother and my sisters clustering round

My father's body, lying stark and dead,

A spear-wound in his breast.

And as I crept to them, they did not hear me,

Nor ever lift their heads;

But, shuddering, crouched together,

With drooping breasts half-hid in falling hair,

By that familiar form

In such strange slumber bound.

Only the baby, on her shoulder slung,

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