University of Virginia Library

XIX.

The wizard song is dying amorously,
And Marguerite, by music's wondrous spell
Enwrapt in more than mortal ecstasy,
Forgets her home, nor heeds the chapel bell
That tolls for restless souls a piteous knell,
But, open-mouthed, with pallid, suppliant hands,
Seems trembling with a longing naught may quell;
Then all amort, like carvéd marble, stands,
And pants for summer bowers and joy in faëry-lands.

XX.

Now instant let her guardian angel charm

120

Her love-lorn soul from that wierd minstrelsy,
And kind Saint Denis, with protecting arm,
Speed to her aid—or else the linden-tree
Will never shade her more, and she will be
A prisoned bird in gilded cage forlorn!
And look! with white arms reaching languidly
Toward that perilous beauty, she has gone
Yet nearer to the Fay—the elfin charm has won!

XXI.

Good bye for aye, lost pearl of Epinel!
The chill November wind, with moaning loud,
In ominous gusts bewailed through all the dell;
Ursula, though so old and ague-bowed,
Yet would her daughter seek, and wildly vowed
To find the maid—let weal or woe betide!
Her aged limbs were hallowed by no shroud,
And no sweet child stood weeping by her side,
But, anguished and alone, in the drear storm she died.