108
THE ROMAUNT OF THE PAGE.
"A boon, thou noble knight,
If ever I served thee!
Though thou art a knight, and I am a page,
Now grant a boon to me—
And tell me sooth, if dark or bright,
If little loved, or loved aright,
Be the face of thy ladye."
If ever I served thee!
Though thou art a knight, and I am a page,
Now grant a boon to me—
And tell me sooth, if dark or bright,
If little loved, or loved aright,
Be the face of thy ladye."
Gloomily looked the knight;—
"As a son thou hast served me:
And would to none, I had granted boon,
Except to only thee!
For haply then I should love aright,—
For then I should know if dark or bright
Were the face of my ladye.
"As a son thou hast served me:
And would to none, I had granted boon,
Except to only thee!
For haply then I should love aright,—
For then I should know if dark or bright
Were the face of my ladye.
"Yet ill it suits my knightly tongue,
To grudge that granted boon!
That heavy price, from heart and life,
I paid in silence clown:
The hand that claimed it, cleared in fine
My father's fame! I swear by mine,
That price was nobly won.
To grudge that granted boon!
That heavy price, from heart and life,
I paid in silence clown:
The hand that claimed it, cleared in fine
My father's fame! I swear by mine,
That price was nobly won.
"Earl Walter was a brave old earl,—
He was my father's friend;
And while I rode the lists at court,
And little guessed the end,—
My noble father in his shroud,
Against a slanderer lying loud,
He rose up to defend.
He was my father's friend;
And while I rode the lists at court,
And little guessed the end,—
My noble father in his shroud,
Against a slanderer lying loud,
He rose up to defend.
"Oh, calm, below the marble grey,
My father's dust was strown!
Oh, meek, above the marble grey,
His image prayed alone!
The slanderer lied—the wretch was brave,—
For, looking up the minster-nave,
My father's dust was strown!
Oh, meek, above the marble grey,
His image prayed alone!
The slanderer lied—the wretch was brave,—
For, looking up the minster-nave,
