Page:The Earliest English Translations of Bürger's Lenore - A Study in English and German Romanticism - Emerson (1915).djvu/88

"O William, enter first my bowre,
And give me one embrace:
The blasts athwarte the hawthorne hiss;
Awayte a little space."

"Tho' blasts athwarte the hawthorne hiss,
I may not harboure here;
My spurre is sharpe, my courser pawes,
My houre of flighte is nere.

"All as thou lyest upon thy couch,
Aryse, and mounte behinde;
To-night we'le ride a thousand miles,
The bridal bed to finde."

"How, ride to-night a thousand miles?
Thy love thou dost bemocke:
Eleven is the stroke that still
Rings on within the clocke."

"Look up; the moone is bright, and we
Outstride the earthlie men:
I'll take thee to the bridal bed,
And night shall end but then."

"And where is, then, thy house and home;
And where thy bridal bed?"
"'Tis narrow, silent, chilly, dark,
Far hence I rest my head."

"And is there any room for mee,
Wherein that I may creepe?"
"There's room enough for thee and mee,
Wherein that wee may sleepe.

"All as thou ly'st upon thy couch,
Aryse, no longer stop;
The wedding guests thy coming waite,
The chamber dore is ope."

All in her sarke, as there she lay,
Upon his horse she sprung:
And with her lily hands so pale
About her William clung.

And hurry-skurry forth they goe,
Unheeding wet or drye;
And horse and rider snort and blowe,
And sparkling pebbles flye.

How swift the flood, the mead, the wood,
Aright, aleft, are gone.
The bridges thunder as they pass,
But earthlie sowne is none.