Impressions: A Book of Verse/Chateau D'hautefort: Now
CHÂTEAU D'HAUTEFORT: NOW[1]
A SUNLIT castle on a solemn height
Whence the broad distance rolling like a sea
Stretches below light-bathed immensity!
The glory of thy past has taken flight,
But not thy beauty, Hautefort! That shines bright,
Though loyalty and truth and constancy
In the last seignior's grave all buried be
And he has joined his king, that last true knight!
Hautefort! once strong to shelter, at thy feet
The little feudal village lingers still,
Like group of frightened children that have run
To seek protection. While its slanting street
The purple shades of falling twilight fill,
Thy towers, still glorious, catch the vanished sun.
- ↑ This castle belonged to the late Comte de Damas, an intimate friend and devoted follower of the Comte de Chambordy Henri V. of France. The Comte de Chambord bequeathed to the Comte de Damas the white flag with the three lilies this was placed to the right of the altar in the castle chapel, and beneath it the Comte de Damas was buried, at his own request, the fringe of the banner just touching the tombstone. The castle is mentioned in Dante's Divina Commedia, as "che già tenne Altaforte," Inferno, XXIX. 29.