THE brave Roland !-the brave Roland !False tidings reached the Rhenish strand That he had fallen in fight; And thy faithful bosom swooned with pain, O loveliest maiden of Allémayne! For the loss of thine own true knight. But why so rash has she ta'en the veil, For her vow had scarce been sworn, Woe! woe! each heart shall bleed-shall break! She would have hung upon his neck, Had he come but yester-even; And he had clasped those peerless charms Or meet him but in heaven. Yet Roland the brave-Roland the true- It was dear still 'midst his woes; There's yet one window of that pile, (When the chant and organ sounded slow) For herself he might not see. She died !—He sought the battle-plain; When he fell and wished to fall: THE SPECTRE BOAT. A BALLAD. LIGHT rued false Ferdinand to leave a lovely maid forlorn, Who broke her heart and died to hide her blushing cheek from scorn. One night he dreamt he wooed her in their wonted bower of love, Where the flowers sprang thick around them, and the birds sang sweet above. But the scene was swiftly changed into a churchyard's dismal view, And her lips grew black beneath his kiss, from love's delicious hue. What more he dreamt, he told to none; but shuddering, pale, and dumb, Looked out upon the waves, like one that knew his hour was come. 'Twas now the dead watch of the night-the helm was lashed a-lee, And the ship rode where Mount Etna lights the deep Levantine sea; When beneath its glare a boat came, rowed by a woman in her shroud, Who, with eyes that made our blood run cold, stood up and spoke aloud :— 66 Come, Traitor, down, for whom my ghost still wanders unforgiven ! Come down, false Ferdinand, for whom I broke my peace with heaven!" It was vain to hold the victim, for he plunged to meet her call, Like the bird that shrieks and flutters in the gazing serpent's thrall. You may guess the boldest mariner shrunk daunted from the sight, For the Spectre and her winding-sheet shone blue with hideous light; Like a fiery wheel the boat spun with the waving of her hand, And round they went, and down they went, as the cock crew from the land. SONG. Он, how hard it is to find The one just suited to our mind; And if that one should be Love's a boundless burning waste, Suspense's thorns, Suspicion's stings; That's sweet-ev'n when we sigh Woe's me!' THE LOVER TO HIS MISTRESS ON HER BIRTH-DAY. IF any white-winged Power above My joys and griefs survey, The day when thou wert born, my love— He surely blessed that day. I laughed (till taught by thee) when told That ripened life's dull ore to gold, My mind had lovely shapes pourtrayed; I gazed, and felt upon my lips The unfinished accents hang: And though as swift as lightning's flash Those tranced moments flew, Not all the waves of time shall wash Their memory from my view. |