Volume I Part 15 (1/2)

I know that he will not fail me, So I count every hour chime, Every throb of my own heart's beating, That tells of the flight of Time.

On the day of my birth he plighted His kingly word to me:- I have seen him in dreams so often, That I know what his smile must be.

I have toiled through the sunny woodland, Through fields that basked in the light; And through the lone paths in the forest I crept in the dead of night.

I will not fear at his coming, Although I must meet him alone; He will look in my eyes so gently, And take my hand in his own.

Like a dream all my toil will vanish, When I lay my head on his breast-- But the journey is very weary, And he only can give me rest!

VERSE: FIDELIS

You have taken back the promise That you spoke so long ago; Taken back the heart you gave me-- I must even let it go.

Where Love once has breathed, Pride dieth: So I struggled, but in vain, First to keep the links together, Then to piece the broken chain.

But it might not be--so freely All your friends.h.i.+p I restore, And the heart that I had taken As my own for evermore.

No shade of reproach shall touch you, Dread no more a claim from me-- But I will not have you fancy That I count myself as free.

I am bound by the old promise; What can break that golden chain?

Not even the words that you have spoken, Or the sharpness of my pain: Do you think, because you fail me And draw back your hand to-day, That from out the heart I gave you My strong love can fade away?

It will live. No eyes may see it; In my soul it will lie deep, Hidden from all; but I shall feel it Often stirring in its sleep.

So remember, that the friends.h.i.+p Which you now think poor and vain, Will endure in hope and patience, Till you ask for it again.

Perhaps in some long twilight hour, Like those we have known of old, When past shadows gather round you, And your present friends grow cold, You may stretch your hands out towards me,-- Ah! you will--I know not when-- I shall nurse my love and keep it Faithfully, for you, till then.

VERSE: A SHADOW

What lack the valleys and mountains That once were green and gay?

What lack the babbling fountains?

Their voice is sad to-day.

Only the sound of a voice, Tender and sweet and low, That made the earth rejoice, A year ago!

What lack the tender flowers?

A shadow is on the sun: What lack the merry hours, That I long that they were done?

Only two smiling eyes, That told of joy and mirth: They are s.h.i.+ning in the skies, I mourn on earth!

What lacks my heart, that makes it So weary and full of pain, That trembling Hope forsakes it, Never to come again?

Only another heart, Tender and all mine own, In the still grave it lies; I weep alone!

VERSE: THE SAILOR BOY

My Life you ask of? why, you know Full soon my little Life is told; It has had no great joy or woe, For I am only twelve years old.

Ere long I hope I shall have been On my first voyage, and wonders seen.

Some princess I may help to free From pirates, on a far-off sea; Or, on some desert isle be left, Of friends and s.h.i.+pmates all bereft.

For the first time I venture forth, From our blue mountains of the north.

My kinsman kept the lodge that stood Guarding the entrance near the wood, By the stone gateway grey and old, With quaint devices carved about, And broken s.h.i.+elds; while dragons bold Glared on the common world without; And the long trembling ivy spray Half hid the centuries' decay.

In solitude and silence grand The castle towered above the land: The castle of the Earl, whose name (Wrapped in old b.l.o.o.d.y legends) came Down through the times when Truth and Right Bent down to armed Pride and Might.

He owned the country far and near; And, for some weeks in every year, (When the brown leaves were falling fast And the long, lingering autumn pa.s.sed,) He would come down to hunt the deer, With hound and horse in splendid pride.