Remaining utterly confused with fears, Shut up as in a crumbling tomb, girt round Far off she seem'd to hear the dully sound Of human footsteps fall. As in strange lands a traveller walking slow, A little before moon-rise hears the low And knows not if it be thunder or a sound Of great wild beasts; then thinketh, "I have found She howl'd aloud, "I am on fire within. What is it that will take away my sin, And save me lest I die? So when four years were wholly finished, "Make me a cottage in the vale," she said, "Where I may mourn and pray. "Yet pull, not down my palace towers, that are So lightly, beautifully built : Perchance I may return with others there LADY CLARA VERE DE VERE. LADY Clara Vere de Vere, Of me you shall not win renown; The daughter of a hundred Earls Lady Clara Vere de Vere, I know you proud to bear your name, Your pride is yet no mate for mine, Too proud to care from whence I came. Nor would I break for your sweet sake A heart that doats on truer charms. A simple maiden in her flower Is worth a hundred coats-of-arms. Lady Clara Vere de Vere, Some meeker pupil you must find, The lion on your old stone gates Is not more cold to you than I. Lady Clara Vere de Vere, You put strange memories in my head. Not thrice your branching limes have blown But there was that across his throat Which you had hardly cared to see. Lady Clara Vere de Vere, When thus he met his mother's view, She had the passions of her kind, She spake some certain truths of you. Indeed I heard one bitter word That scarce is fit for you to hear. Her manners had not that repose Which stamps the caste of Vere de Vere. Lady Clara Vere de Vere, There stands a spectre in your hall The guilt of blood is at your door. : You changed a wholesome heart to gall. You held your course without remorse, To make him trust his modest worth, And, last, you fix'd a vacant stare, And slew him with your noble birth. Trust me, Clara Vere de Vere, From yon blue heavens above us bent The gardener Adam and his wife Smile at the claims of long descent. |