74
POEMS.
"I will keep the tryst 'neath this ancient tree,"
The pallid maiden said,
As she weeping knelt on the grassy bank,
And bowed her lovely head.
"When the year hath pass'd, 'neath the trysting tree
Shalt thou see me alive or dead!"
The pallid maiden said,
As she weeping knelt on the grassy bank,
And bowed her lovely head.
"When the year hath pass'd, 'neath the trysting tree
Shalt thou see me alive or dead!"
****
The year pass'd on, and the trysting tree
Was stripp'd of its mantle green,
And the autumn shadows dimly fell
Where the summer sun had been;
But the maiden fair, with her eyes of light,
Was ne'er in the greenwood seen.
Was stripp'd of its mantle green,
And the autumn shadows dimly fell
Where the summer sun had been;
But the maiden fair, with her eyes of light,
Was ne'er in the greenwood seen.
For ah! in that year, that weary year,
Tidings of falsehood came,
That the youth had forgotten the solemn vow
He had sworn by his knightly name,
And had plighted his troth, at his sire's command,
To a lovely and high-born dame.
Tidings of falsehood came,
That the youth had forgotten the solemn vow
He had sworn by his knightly name,
And had plighted his troth, at his sire's command,
To a lovely and high-born dame.
Pale grew the drooping maiden's cheek,
And paler it seemed each day;
Her peace was gone, and the woods no more
Woke to her footsteps gay:
As the winter pass'd, and the spring stole on,
She wearily pined away.
And paler it seemed each day;
Her peace was gone, and the woods no more
Woke to her footsteps gay:
As the winter pass'd, and the spring stole on,
She wearily pined away.
