The Poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed With a Memoir by the Rev. Derwent Coleridge. Fourth Edition. In Two Volumes |
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 | The Poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed |  |
365
YES OR NO.
I
The Baron de Vaux hath a valiant crest,—My Lady is fair and free;
The Baron is full of mirth and jest,—
My Lady is full of glee;
But their path, we know, is a path of woe,
And many the reason guess,—
The Baron will ever mutter “No,”
When my Lady whispers “Yes.”
II
The Baron will pass the wine-cup round,—My Lady forth will roam;
The Baron will out with horse and hound,—
My Lady sits at home;
The Baron will go to draw the bow,—
My Lady will go to chess;
And the Baron will ever mutter “No,”
When my Lady whispers “Yes.”
366
III
The Baron hath ears for a lovely lay,If my Lady sings it not;
The Baron is blind to a beauteous day,
If it beam in my Lady's grot;
The Baron bows low to a furbelow,
If it be not my Lady's dress;
And the Baron will ever mutter “No,”
When my Lady whispers “Yes.”
IV
Now saddle my steed, and helm my head,Be ready in the porch;
Stout Guy, with a ladder of silken thread,
And trusty Will, with a torch:
The wind may blow, the torrent flow,—
No matter,—on we press;
I never can hear the Baron's “No”
When my Lady whispers “Yes.”
| The Poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed | |