120
what's o'clock
And crouching down beside the brooding moat
Gaze at the silent glisten of the roof
And ivy-twinkling walls, and speculate
Which hollow window opened on the room
Where the queen slept, and curse the bearded king
With full-mouthed curses. Then, as dreaming grew,
He saw the queen at work within her bower
Surrounded by her ladies, stitching on
A blue-green tapestry where hunters ran,
And spotted dogs plunged into a blue stream
After an otter. Neron boldly stepped
Into the bower and nodded to the ladies
Who crept away and left him with the queen.
But nothing happened, for that night the king came;
Though Neron luckily escaped before.
He wrenched his wits to find some casual way
When he might urge himself upon her thought
Whose numb inconsequence was salt and flame
Set to the green wound of his smarting flesh.
Gaze at the silent glisten of the roof
And ivy-twinkling walls, and speculate
Which hollow window opened on the room
Where the queen slept, and curse the bearded king
With full-mouthed curses. Then, as dreaming grew,
He saw the queen at work within her bower
Surrounded by her ladies, stitching on
A blue-green tapestry where hunters ran,
And spotted dogs plunged into a blue stream
After an otter. Neron boldly stepped
Into the bower and nodded to the ladies
Who crept away and left him with the queen.
But nothing happened, for that night the king came;
Though Neron luckily escaped before.
He wrenched his wits to find some casual way
When he might urge himself upon her thought
Whose numb inconsequence was salt and flame
Set to the green wound of his smarting flesh.
