 | [Poems by Drake in] The life and works of Joseph Rodman Drake (1795-1820) |  |
XXXIV
“Lady,” he cried, “I have sworn to-night,On the word of a fairy knight,
To do my sentence task aright;
My honor scarce is free from stain,
I may not soil its snows again;
Betide me weal, betide me woe,
Its mandate must be answered now.”
Her bosom heaved with many a sigh,
The tear was in her drooping eye,
But she had led him to the palace gate,
And called the sylphs who hovered there,
And bade them fly and bring him straight
Of clouds condensed a sable car.
With charm and spell she blessed it there,
From all the fiends of upper air;
Then round him cast the shadowy shroud,
And tied his steed behind the cloud,
And pressed his hand as she bade him fly
171
For by its wane and wavering light
There was a star that would fall to-night.
| [Poems by Drake in] The life and works of Joseph Rodman Drake (1795-1820) | |