 | Fand and Other Poems |  |
“I answer not,” he said,
“Yet may I serve thee, for I know thy quest;
Fand and Cuhoolin are in yonder isle.”
My heart leaped strangely, and I could not speak.
Continued he, “if thou would'st reach the isle,
A boat is here: hasten, lest from thy lips
Delay should wring a lamentable ‘too late.’”
“Oh! never name the word,” I cried: “thy boat—
Where is it? take me: greatly will I reward thee.”
“I ask for no reward,” he said: “but come.”
He led me to a little rocky cove
Close by: there lay the boat: he helped me in,
Followed, and rowed: soon we were in mid lake.
There paused he: “ere we reach the isle,” he said,
“Hear thou my counsel: in a bower in the isle
Lies thy Cuhoolin; on this very day
Fand works her last enchantments: when thou reachest
The place, and hear'st her singing, linger thou
Till the last note has died:—then quickly in,
And thou wilt find thy hero lying asleep
Alone; rouse him, and ere the goddess return
Hasten him from the bower.”
“Yet may I serve thee, for I know thy quest;
6
My heart leaped strangely, and I could not speak.
Continued he, “if thou would'st reach the isle,
A boat is here: hasten, lest from thy lips
Delay should wring a lamentable ‘too late.’”
“Oh! never name the word,” I cried: “thy boat—
Where is it? take me: greatly will I reward thee.”
“I ask for no reward,” he said: “but come.”
He led me to a little rocky cove
Close by: there lay the boat: he helped me in,
Followed, and rowed: soon we were in mid lake.
There paused he: “ere we reach the isle,” he said,
“Hear thou my counsel: in a bower in the isle
Lies thy Cuhoolin; on this very day
Fand works her last enchantments: when thou reachest
The place, and hear'st her singing, linger thou
Till the last note has died:—then quickly in,
And thou wilt find thy hero lying asleep
Alone; rouse him, and ere the goddess return
Hasten him from the bower.”
| Fand and Other Poems | |