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The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme

The witch of Shiloh, the last of the Wampanoags, the gentle earl, the enchanted voyage

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XXXII
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36

XXXII

There was a maid of Sidon
Who joyed to watch the night
When all its princes ride on
Their jeweled steeds of light.
She loved the brightest daemon
Who flies from pole to pole,
And wrote his lordly name on
The altar of her soul.
To find him and to hold him
She wandered north and south;
To clasp him and to fold him
Against her heart and mouth.
But far above he sparkled
And reigned from zone to zone;
And far below she darkled,
Still loving him alone.
Oh, weary was the maiden
When halted she to rest:
It was the daemon's Aidenn,
And lovers there are blest.
For, weeping near a river,
She looked therein and spied
Her darling's glory quiver
Beneath the crystal tide.

37

Then down the maiden fluttered,
And never more was seen;
But daemon voices muttered:
“Below she reigns a queen.”