 | The Burden of the Bell and Other Lyrics |  |
159
LOVE IN THE ALPUXARAS.
Under a cork-tree, deep in the shade
Of the Alpuxaras, I wooed a maid;
She was plump as a chesnut, grown
In a Catalan sunshine—and as brown.
First, I wooed her with smiles, and then
Sighed “like furnace,” o'er and agen.
Long she listened, then laughing gay,
Sang me a snatch of an ancient lay.
“There was a damsel lived in a dell,—
Dames of Nevada! Dames of Nevada!
And a Cavalier bold, he loved her well,
He loved her well—
Knights of Grenada! Knights of Grenada!”
Of the Alpuxaras, I wooed a maid;
She was plump as a chesnut, grown
In a Catalan sunshine—and as brown.
First, I wooed her with smiles, and then
Sighed “like furnace,” o'er and agen.
Long she listened, then laughing gay,
Sang me a snatch of an ancient lay.
“There was a damsel lived in a dell,—
Dames of Nevada! Dames of Nevada!
And a Cavalier bold, he loved her well,
He loved her well—
Knights of Grenada! Knights of Grenada!”
Flinty and rough was the ground, ah me!
Yet down I dropped upon bended knee,
And vow upon vow I volubly uttered,
While my heart beat quick and my pulses fluttered.
In delicate phrases, quaintly adorned,
I coaxed and wheedled, flattered and fawned;
But lo! in the midst, with an ‘all very pretty’
Sort of look, she went on singing her ditty:
“Quoth the damsel, ‘Sir, be frank and free’—
Dames of Nevada! Dames of Nevada!
‘Dare you wed a maiden of low degree,’
Of low degree—
Knights of Grenada! Knights of Grenada?”
Yet down I dropped upon bended knee,
And vow upon vow I volubly uttered,
While my heart beat quick and my pulses fluttered.
160
I coaxed and wheedled, flattered and fawned;
But lo! in the midst, with an ‘all very pretty’
Sort of look, she went on singing her ditty:
“Quoth the damsel, ‘Sir, be frank and free’—
Dames of Nevada! Dames of Nevada!
‘Dare you wed a maiden of low degree,’
Of low degree—
Knights of Grenada! Knights of Grenada?”
Saints! was it any thing in the air
Struck such a chill through my blood? I declare
I had well nigh fainted;—pale and red
Grew I by turns, while that one word ‘wed’
Smote on my ears like a tocsin, dispelling
Visions of bliss with its sudden knelling.
Curled the red lip of the maid, and then
Her clear voice broke into song agen:—
“Blank looked the suitor and sore forlorn—
Dames of Nevada! Dames of Nevada!
And the damsel laughed his love to scorn,
His love to scorn—
Knights of Grenada! Knights of Grenada!”
Struck such a chill through my blood? I declare
I had well nigh fainted;—pale and red
Grew I by turns, while that one word ‘wed’
Smote on my ears like a tocsin, dispelling
Visions of bliss with its sudden knelling.
Curled the red lip of the maid, and then
Her clear voice broke into song agen:—
“Blank looked the suitor and sore forlorn—
Dames of Nevada! Dames of Nevada!
And the damsel laughed his love to scorn,
His love to scorn—
Knights of Grenada! Knights of Grenada!”
161
Scorn!—'twas the only word, in sooth;
There was no disguising that plain truth—
With a lifted brow and a flashing eye,
She fronted me in her purity,
And her glance—oh! it made my soul confess
Its shame, and her own true nobleness;
Mute and abashed I stood, and anon
With a sigh she left me—singing on:
“‘Albeit a cavalier bold’, quoth she—
Dames of Nevada! Dames of Nevada!
‘A lover art thou of low degree,
Of low degree!’
Knights of Grenada! Knights of Grenada!”
There was no disguising that plain truth—
With a lifted brow and a flashing eye,
She fronted me in her purity,
And her glance—oh! it made my soul confess
Its shame, and her own true nobleness;
Mute and abashed I stood, and anon
With a sigh she left me—singing on:
“‘Albeit a cavalier bold’, quoth she—
Dames of Nevada! Dames of Nevada!
‘A lover art thou of low degree,
Of low degree!’
Knights of Grenada! Knights of Grenada!”
| The Burden of the Bell and Other Lyrics | |