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 |  |
436
XXXVII. BLOCKHEAD
He hath seen the tempest lower;
He hath dared the foeman's spear;
He hath welcomed death on tide and tower:
How will he greet him here?
My First was set, and in his place
You might see the dark man stand,
With a fearful vizor on his face,
And a bright axe in his hand.
He hath dared the foeman's spear;
He hath welcomed death on tide and tower:
How will he greet him here?
My First was set, and in his place
You might see the dark man stand,
With a fearful vizor on his face,
And a bright axe in his hand.
Short shrift, and hurried praver:
Now bid the pale priest go;
And let my Second be bound and bare
To meet the fatal blow.
The dark man grinned in bitter scorn;
And you might hear him say,
“It was black as jet but yestermorn,
Whence is it white to-day?”
Now bid the pale priest go;
And let my Second be bound and bare
To meet the fatal blow.
The dark man grinned in bitter scorn;
And you might hear him say,
“It was black as jet but yestermorn,
Whence is it white to-day?”
437
“Rise!—thou art pardoned!”—vain!
Lift up the lifeless clay;
On the skin no scratch, on the steel no stain,—
But the soul hath past away.
The dark man laid his bright axe by
As he heard the tower clock chime;
And he thought that none but my Whole would die
A minute before the time.
Lift up the lifeless clay;
On the skin no scratch, on the steel no stain,—
But the soul hath past away.
The dark man laid his bright axe by
As he heard the tower clock chime;
And he thought that none but my Whole would die
A minute before the time.
July, 1829.
| The Poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed | |