She replies, in accents fainter, Presses his without reproof: And they leave her father's roof. 'I can make no marriage present : Love will make our cottage pleasant, See the lordly castles stand: Hears him lovingly converse, Lay betwixt his home and hers; Parks with oak and chestnut shady, Parks and order'd gardens great, Built for pleasure and for state. Evermore she seems to gaze On that cottage growing nearer, Where they twain will spend their days. O but she will love him truly! He shall have a cheerful home; She will order all things duly, When beneath his roof they come. Till a gateway she discerns Than all those she saw before : Many a gallant gay domestic Bows before him at the door. 'All of this is mine and thine.' Is so great a lord as he. All at once the colour flushes Her sweet face from brow to chin: As it were with shame she blushes, And her spirit changed within. Then her countenance all over Pale again as death did prove : But he clasp'd her like a lover, And he cheer'd her soul with love. So she strove against her weakness, Tho' at times her spirit sank: Shaped her heart with woman's meek ness To all duties of her rank: And a gentle consort made he, And her gentle mind was such That she grew a noble lady, And the people loved her much. But a trouble weigh'd upon her, And perplex'd her, night and morn, With the burthen of an honour Unto which she was not born. Faint she grew, and ever fainter, And she murmur'd, 'Oh, that he Were once more that landscape-painter, Which did win my heart from me!' So she droop'd and droop'd before him, Fading slowly from his side: Three fair children first she bore him, Then before her time she died. X. And only one among us--him We pleased not-he was seldom pleased: He saw not far : his eyes were dim: But ours he swore were all diseased. 'A ship of fools,' he shriek'd in spite, 'A ship of fools,' he sneer'd and wept. And overboard one stormy night He cast his body, and on we swept. XI. And never sail of ours was furl'd, We lov'd the glories of the world, But laws of nature were our scorn. Across the whirlwind's heart of peace, XII. Again to colder climes we came, For still we follow'd where she led : Now mate is blind and captain lame, And half the crew are sick or dead, But, blind or lame or sick or sound, We follow that which flies before : We know the merry world is round, And we may sail for evermore. SIR LAUNCELOT AND QUEEN GUINEVERE. A FRAGMENT. LIKE souls that balance joy and pain, In crystal vapour everywhere Sometimes the linnet piped his song: By grassy capes with fuller sound Above the teeming ground. She seem'd a part of joyous Spring : A gown of grass-green silk she wore, Buckled with golden clasps before; A light-green tuft of plumes she bore Closed in a golden ring. Now on some twisted ivy-net, Her cream-white mule his pastern set : And fleeter now she skimm'd the plains Than she whose elfin prancer springs By night to eery warblings, When all the glimmering moorland rings With jingling bridle-reins. 134 A FAREWELL-THE BEGGAR MAID-THE EAGLE. As she fled fast thro' sun and shade, The happy winds upon her play'd, Blowing the ringlet from the braid : She look'd so lovely, as she sway'd The rein with dainty finger-tips, A man had given all other bliss, And all his worldly worth for this, To waste his whole heart in one kiss Upon her perfect lips. A FAREWELL. FLOW down, cold rivulet,.to the sea, Thy tribute wave deliver : No more by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever. Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea, A rivulet then a river : No where by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever. But here will sigh thine alder tree, And here thine aspen shiver; And here by thee will hum the bee, For ever and for ever. A thousand suns will stream on thee, A thousand moons will quiver; But not by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever. THE BEGGAR MAID. HER arms across her breast she laid; She was more fair than words can say: Bare-footed came the beggar maid Before the king Cophetua. In robe and crown the king stept down, To meet and greet her on her way; 'It is no wonder,' said the lords, 'She is more beautiful than day.' As shines the moon in clouded skies, She in her poor attire was seen : One praised her ancles, one her eyes, One her dark hair and lovesome mien. So sweet a face, such angel grace, In all that land had never been: Cophetua sware a royal oath : "This beggar maid shall be my queen!' THE EAGLE. FRAGMENT. HE clasps the crag with crooked hands; MOVE eastward, happy earth, and leave Yon orange sunset waning slow: From fringes of the faded eve, O, happy planet, eastward go; Till over thy dark shoulder glow Thy silver sister-world, and rise To glass herself in dewy eyes That watch me from the glen below. Ah, bear me with thee, smoothly borne, Dip forward under starry light, And move me to my marriage-morn, And round again to happy night. COME not, when I am dead, To drop thy foolish tears upon my grave, To trample round my fallen head, And vex the unhappy dust thou wouldst not save. There let the wind sweep and the plover cry; But thou, go by. Child, if it were thine error or thy crime I care no longer, being all unblest : Wed whom thou wilt, but I am sick of Time, And I desire to rest. Pass on, weak heart, and leave me where I lie : Go by, go by. |