Page:The Collected Poems of Dora Sigerson Shorter.djvu/48

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EARL RODERICK'S BRIDE
29


He followed her down hall and stair,
Out through the open door;
And every weary mile he went
The lady was before.

Through sleepy woods and singing streams
He followed all the night:
But never did he reach her side,
Or stopped she from her flight,

Until she reached Hy-brasil hill.
And by Hy-brasil lake.
And there she vanished from his eyes
Ere he could overtake.

He looked into the deep wood green,
But nothing there did see;
He looked into the still water,
Beneath, all white, lay she.

He drew her from her cold, cold bed.
And kissed her cheek and chin;
Loosed from his neck his silken cloak
To wrap her body in.

He took her up in his two arms—
His grief was deep and wild;
He knelt beside her on the sod
And sorrowed like a child.

He blew three blasts upon his horn,
His men did make reply,
And oame all quickly to his call
Through brake and briar so high.

They raised her up upon their shields,
Clad in her cloak of silk ;
Home brought her in a coach of gold
With palfreys white as milk.