 | Poems : medley and Palestina |  |
87
The Vanished Castle.
I tread the site of the castle
Where dwelt my fathers of yore;
The castle, the lords and the ladies
Have vanished forevermore.
Where dwelt my fathers of yore;
The castle, the lords and the ladies
Have vanished forevermore.
Yet the magian hour refashions
Moat, portcullis and hall,
Where phantoms grovel in donjon,
Or revel in blazoned wall;
Moat, portcullis and hall,
Where phantoms grovel in donjon,
Or revel in blazoned wall;
Where, clutching a dizzy turret,
A damozel kneels to pray,
Her wet eyes chasing a rider,
In armor, glinting away.
A damozel kneels to pray,
Her wet eyes chasing a rider,
In armor, glinting away.
Hubert and Hugh and Walter,
Agnes, Matilde, Isabeau,
They see me, they beckon—but sudden
They are whirled to the long-ago.
Agnes, Matilde, Isabeau,
They see me, they beckon—but sudden
They are whirled to the long-ago.
The villagers, gathering round me,
My name and race demand;
Then ask with a stare of terror,
“Comest thou back for the land?”
My name and race demand;
Then ask with a stare of terror,
“Comest thou back for the land?”
The query commingles the ages:—
Who am I, friends, but he
Hubertus, the old crusader
Who fell by the Tyrian sea?
Who am I, friends, but he
Hubertus, the old crusader
Who fell by the Tyrian sea?
| Poems : medley and Palestina | |