 | Poems |  |
49
A LEGEND OF TYROL.
In a green, sheltered nook, where a mountain
Stood guarding the peace-haunted ground,
Lived a maiden, whose smile was the sunlight
That gladdened the hill-sides around.
Stood guarding the peace-haunted ground,
Lived a maiden, whose smile was the sunlight
That gladdened the hill-sides around.
Her voice seemed a musical echo,
Whose notes wandered down from above;
And wherever she walked in her beauty,
Sprang blossoms of joy and of love.
Whose notes wandered down from above;
And wherever she walked in her beauty,
Sprang blossoms of joy and of love.
50
As she stood at her door in the morning,
The hunter below, riding by,
Cried out to his comrades, “We 're early!
For look, there 's a star in the sky!”
The hunter below, riding by,
Cried out to his comrades, “We 're early!
For look, there 's a star in the sky!”
At the chapel, when good men were praying
That angels of God would appear,
Every heart turned to her, lowly kneeling,
And felt that an angel was near.
That angels of God would appear,
Every heart turned to her, lowly kneeling,
And felt that an angel was near.
Thus radiant and pure in her presence,
A blessing she moved, day by day,
Till a proud lord beheld her and loved her,
And lured her for ever away.
A blessing she moved, day by day,
Till a proud lord beheld her and loved her,
And lured her for ever away.
51
He bore this bright bird of the mountain,
Watched over and shielded the best,
From the home of her youth and her kindred,
Away to his own haughty nest.
Watched over and shielded the best,
From the home of her youth and her kindred,
Away to his own haughty nest.
And lo! the grim idols in waiting
Beset her for worship, and won;
And the light of her beautiful childhood
Went down like the swift-fading sun.
Beset her for worship, and won;
And the light of her beautiful childhood
Went down like the swift-fading sun.
And sudden as rises the black cloud,
When tempests the thunder-gods start,
Strange wishes encircled her bosom,
And Pride swept the halls of her heart.
When tempests the thunder-gods start,
Strange wishes encircled her bosom,
And Pride swept the halls of her heart.
52
And once, when o'ermastered by anger,
Her golden-haired boy sought her side;
In her fury she smote down her first-born,
And he fell like a lily, and died.
Her golden-haired boy sought her side;
In her fury she smote down her first-born,
And he fell like a lily, and died.
There were tears, burning tears, to recall him,
And anguish that scorches the brain;
But the harp-strings of life never answered
The touch that would tune them again!
And anguish that scorches the brain;
But the harp-strings of life never answered
The touch that would tune them again!
She sleeps in a dark mausoleum,
And ages have rolled o'er her head,
But her name is remembered in Tyrol,
As when she was laid with the dead.
And ages have rolled o'er her head,
But her name is remembered in Tyrol,
As when she was laid with the dead.
53
And to-day, as the traveller sits weary,
And drinks from the rude fountain-bowl,
They tell the sad story, and whisper
The warning that speaks to your soul.
And drinks from the rude fountain-bowl,
They tell the sad story, and whisper
The warning that speaks to your soul.
| Poems | |