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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 | The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme |  |
83
XXIX
So changed desire our errant knight
Who lately strove with fervid might
To find the beauteous child of wrath
And shoo her out of Satan's path,
Yet gathered naught for all his pains
But travel-stains and weary reins
'Mid fastings, vigils, marches, squalls
And summersets down waterfalls;
In short, who lavished love and faith
To save a savage (or a wraith),
Yet saw his kindness paid with evil
Enough to tire the very devil.
Who lately strove with fervid might
To find the beauteous child of wrath
And shoo her out of Satan's path,
Yet gathered naught for all his pains
But travel-stains and weary reins
'Mid fastings, vigils, marches, squalls
And summersets down waterfalls;
In short, who lavished love and faith
To save a savage (or a wraith),
Yet saw his kindness paid with evil
Enough to tire the very devil.
His fervor cooled; he loathed the thought
Of meeting yet again her face;
He marveled how he ever sought
To do her any deed of grace.
The memory of her jeweled glance
No longer set his heart astir;
It seemed as though the sight of her
Would make him curse and turn askance.
He even loathed the mighty West,
And loathed the very setting sun,
But might not leave his task undone
Without a smirch upon his crest.
No marvel Downing changed in mind,
For far ahead the maiden flew,
And when he saw her face anew
The continent was half behind.
Of meeting yet again her face;
He marveled how he ever sought
To do her any deed of grace.
The memory of her jeweled glance
No longer set his heart astir;
It seemed as though the sight of her
Would make him curse and turn askance.
He even loathed the mighty West,
And loathed the very setting sun,
But might not leave his task undone
Without a smirch upon his crest.
No marvel Downing changed in mind,
For far ahead the maiden flew,
And when he saw her face anew
The continent was half behind.
| The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme | |