Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

44

THE CULPRIT FAY.

For he thought upon her looks so meek,

And he thought of the light flush on her cheek;

Never again might he bask and lie

On that sweet cheek and moonlight eye,

But in his dreams her form to see,

To clasp her in his revery,

To think upon his virgin bride,

Was worth all heaven and earth beside.

XXXIV.

“Lady,” he cried, “I have sworn to-night,

On the word of a fairy knight,

To do my sentence-task aright;

My honour scarce is free from stain,
I may not soil its snows again;
Betide me weal, betide me wo,

Its mandate must be answered now."
Her bosom heaved with many a sigh,
The tear was in her drooping eye;

But she led him to the palace gate,

And called the sylphs who hovered there,
And bade them fly and bring him straight
Of clouds condensed a sable car.

With charm and spell she blessed it there,
From all the fiends of upper air;

Then round him cast the shadowy shroud,
And tied his steed behind the cloud;

THE CULPRIT FAY.

And pressed his hand as she bade him fly
Far to the verge of the northern sky,
For by its wane and wavering light
There was a star would fall to-night.

XXXV.

Borne afar on the wings of the blast,
Northward away, he speeds him fast,
And his courser follows the cloudy wain
Till the hoof-strokes fall like pattering rain.
The clouds roll backward as he flies,
Each flickering star behind him lies,
And he has reached the northern plain,

And backed his firefly steed again,
Ready to follow in its flight

The streaming of the rocket-light.

45

[graphic]

46

THE CULPRIT FAY.

As swift as the glance of the arrowy lance
That the storm-spirit flings from high,
The star-shot flew o'er the welkin blue,
As it fell from the sheeted sky

As swift as the wind in its trail behind
The elfin gallops along,

The fiends of the clouds are bellowing loud,
But the sylphid charm is strong;

He gallops unhurt in the shower of fire,

While the cloud-fiends fly from the blaze; He watches each flake till its sparks expire, And rides in the light of its rays.

But he drove his steed to the lightning's speed,
And caught a glimmering spark;

Then wheeled around to the fairy ground,
And sped through the midnight dark.

Ouphe and goblin! imp and sprite!
Elf of eve! and starry Fay
Ye that love the moon's soft light,
Hither-hither wend your way;

Twine ye in a jocund ring,

Sing and trip it merrily,

Hand to hand, and wing to wing,

Round the wild witch-hazel tree.

Hail the wanderer again,

With dance and song, and lute and lyre,

[merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed]
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
« AnteriorContinuar »