 | The battle of Niagara |  |
And but that still his well-known tears,
And faded vestment quelled her fears,
She had believed the form that knelt,
Whose maniac pressure yet she felt,
Was not the minstrel boy that went
In worship to the firmament:
She wondered—wept—and breathed one prayer—,
Then felt in more than safety there:
‘Ellen!’ he faintly said, and smiled,
As prostrate at her feet he knelt—
‘Ellen!’—again his eye looked wild—
Again he rose—as if he felt,
And would assuage, some sudden pain,
That darted through his rocking brain:
He paused—and o'er his throbbing brow—
His hand went doubtfully, and slow—
Indignant brushed a falling tear,
And saw that dark-eyed girl appear
In awful loveliness, and youth,
Enthusiasm—tears—and truth—
And then was bent that maniac's pride,
His arms dropped lifeless at his side—
In Nature's own supremacy—
And Youth's tumultuous feeling—
Already in his ecstacy,
The maniac boy was kneeling:
When once again—a lightning pain—
Went flashing through his clouded brain,
Where Reason was revealing:
And faded vestment quelled her fears,
She had believed the form that knelt,
Whose maniac pressure yet she felt,
Was not the minstrel boy that went
In worship to the firmament:
She wondered—wept—and breathed one prayer—,
Then felt in more than safety there:
‘Ellen!’ he faintly said, and smiled,
As prostrate at her feet he knelt—
‘Ellen!’—again his eye looked wild—
Again he rose—as if he felt,
204
That darted through his rocking brain:
He paused—and o'er his throbbing brow—
His hand went doubtfully, and slow—
Indignant brushed a falling tear,
And saw that dark-eyed girl appear
In awful loveliness, and youth,
Enthusiasm—tears—and truth—
And then was bent that maniac's pride,
His arms dropped lifeless at his side—
In Nature's own supremacy—
And Youth's tumultuous feeling—
Already in his ecstacy,
The maniac boy was kneeling:
When once again—a lightning pain—
Went flashing through his clouded brain,
Where Reason was revealing:
| The battle of Niagara | |