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 | The poetical works of William H. C. Hosmer |  |
91
COSMO.
AN ITALIAN SKETCH.
One morn the Princes from the wall
Took down the weapons of the chase,
And issued from the ducal hall,
Their sinews in the hunt to brace.
The mother with an anxious eye
Beheld her manly sons depart,
And vainly strove to quell the sigh,
For grief was heavy at her heart.
Took down the weapons of the chase,
And issued from the ducal hall,
Their sinews in the hunt to brace.
The mother with an anxious eye
Beheld her manly sons depart,
And vainly strove to quell the sigh,
For grief was heavy at her heart.
She saw them ere they went away,
The tangled wild and glen to range,
By frowns their settled hate betray,
And looks of stern resolve exchange.
When gently on the land and flood
The dusky veil of eve was thrown,
The youngest hunter from the wood
With horn and hound came back alone.
The tangled wild and glen to range,
By frowns their settled hate betray,
And looks of stern resolve exchange.
When gently on the land and flood
The dusky veil of eve was thrown,
The youngest hunter from the wood
With horn and hound came back alone.
The stain of purple on the hilt
Of his keen dirk suspicion woke;
His looks expressive were of guilt,
Though in a mirthful tone he spoke.
When loudly questioned why he came
Without his brother, he replied,
“I left him still pursuing game,
Alive and well, ere eventide.”
Of his keen dirk suspicion woke;
His looks expressive were of guilt,
Though in a mirthful tone he spoke.
When loudly questioned why he came
Without his brother, he replied,
“I left him still pursuing game,
Alive and well, ere eventide.”
A band of liegemen, tried and true,
The ducal palace left at night,
And vainly warning bugle blew
To guide their absent prince aright.
Within the forest, lying dead,
The missing one at last was found;
And damp with slaughter was his bed,
Upon the dark and trampled ground.
The ducal palace left at night,
And vainly warning bugle blew
To guide their absent prince aright.
92
The missing one at last was found;
And damp with slaughter was his bed,
Upon the dark and trampled ground.
Duke Cosmo, when the tidings came,
His fingers clenching, smote his brow,
And spake, while horror shook his frame,
“My fondest hopes are blasted now!
His body to that chamber bear,
Where hang the portraits of my race;
And—mark me—hide with utmost care
Stiff limbs and cold distorted face.”
His fingers clenching, smote his brow,
And spake, while horror shook his frame,
“My fondest hopes are blasted now!
His body to that chamber bear,
Where hang the portraits of my race;
And—mark me—hide with utmost care
Stiff limbs and cold distorted face.”
His princely garb the father rent,
And long and bitterly he wept;
Then slyly to that chamber went
Wherein the guilty hunter slept:
The mourner wiped his tearful eyes—
The storm of grief had made them dim—
And calmly bade the youth arise,
And from the chamber follow him.
And long and bitterly he wept;
Then slyly to that chamber went
Wherein the guilty hunter slept:
The mourner wiped his tearful eyes—
The storm of grief had made them dim—
And calmly bade the youth arise,
And from the chamber follow him.
The wretched parent led the way
With hurried stride to that dread room,
In which the lifeless brother lay,
Wrapt in the raiment of the tomb.
The slayer by the hand he took
And fixed on him a dark keen eye,
But in his quietude of look
No trace of terror could espy.
With hurried stride to that dread room,
In which the lifeless brother lay,
Wrapt in the raiment of the tomb.
The slayer by the hand he took
And fixed on him a dark keen eye,
But in his quietude of look
No trace of terror could espy.
His arm uplifting, Cosmo cried,
“Affect not calmness, guilty youth!
Or fruitless efforts make to hide
From God and man the awful truth:
Add not to thy foul crime deceit,
But rather deeply feel remorse.”
Then, lifting up the gory sheet,
Unfolded to his view the corse.
“Affect not calmness, guilty youth!
Or fruitless efforts make to hide
From God and man the awful truth:
93
But rather deeply feel remorse.”
Then, lifting up the gory sheet,
Unfolded to his view the corse.
“Wild frenzy should consume thy brain
While gazing on that ghastly brow,
And blood should curdle in each vein—
Can thy lips guard the secret now?”
How still he lies! upon his flesh
The worm will soon in darkness feed:
Those gaping wounds that bleed afresh
Disclose the author of the deed!
While gazing on that ghastly brow,
And blood should curdle in each vein—
Can thy lips guard the secret now?”
How still he lies! upon his flesh
The worm will soon in darkness feed:
Those gaping wounds that bleed afresh
Disclose the author of the deed!
“To me address no vain appeal!
Fix not on me that pleading eye!
Thy doom is written on the steel
That drank his blood—and thou must die!
Last of my house, my only one!
Stern justice claims atoning gore—”
Deep struck the father, and the son
Fell gasping on the marble floor.
Fix not on me that pleading eye!
Thy doom is written on the steel
That drank his blood—and thou must die!
Last of my house, my only one!
Stern justice claims atoning gore—”
Deep struck the father, and the son
Fell gasping on the marble floor.
Fond, gentle mother of the slain!
For thee it was a fearful night—
The fire of madness scorched thy brain,
And fiends howled round thee to affright
When morning tipped the hills with flame,
And flushed the waves that slept below,
Death, like a kind deliverer, came,
To free thee from thy sumless woe.
For thee it was a fearful night—
The fire of madness scorched thy brain,
And fiends howled round thee to affright
When morning tipped the hills with flame,
And flushed the waves that slept below,
Death, like a kind deliverer, came,
To free thee from thy sumless woe.
| The poetical works of William H. C. Hosmer | |