 | Areytos or songs and ballads of the South |  |
WITH AN UNPRESUMING FACE.
I.
With an unpresuming face,And a manner soft and shy,
Love imperial steals apace,
When you little dream him nigh;
You may note his searching glance,
In the absent-seeming eye:
You may trace him in the trance
Of a young idolatry.
II.
There are spirits yet to win,There are bosoms still to try,
And he deems it not a sin
To extend his sovereignty;
With a spell of wilder power
Than the mortal kings may ply,
He will scale the haughty tower,
Though it rugged be and high!
11
III.
For he arms him with a sparkFrom a young and artless eye,
And he strikes the lofty mark
Which would other force defy;
And the lofty tower goes down
In the conflagration high,
And the chieftain leads he on
In a long captivity!
IV.
In the wildest storm he soars,He is safe in every sky;
And he wins the farthest shores,
With a wing of victory;
Sleepless still, he speeds apace,
When you little deem him nigh,
And achieves the hardest race
That his errant wing may try!
V.
He's the Prince, the Prince of Power,And we bow to him alone;
He's the Lord of Tent and Tower,
Of the Cottage and the Throne;
Peer and Peasant, Clime and Hour,
All alike to him are known,
And we yield him up the flower,
And the fruit, of every zone.
| Areytos or songs and ballads of the South | |