The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd Centenary Edition. With a Memoir of the Author, by the Rev. Thomas Thomson ... Poems and Life. With Many Illustrative Engravings [by James Hogg] |
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 | The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd |  |
For the queen kept the words of her father in view,
Who charged that, in secret no lover should sue;
And therefore bold Eric was still kept at bay,
For all his impatience and all he could say:
And this was her answer both early and late,
“The time is at hand that determines my fate:
Then he whose arm in battle is strongest,
Whose shield is broadest, or falchion longest,
And twice in the lists shall win the day,
I am his to claim and carry away.
But till that day all suit is vain—
In strict retirement I remain.”
Who charged that, in secret no lover should sue;
And therefore bold Eric was still kept at bay,
For all his impatience and all he could say:
And this was her answer both early and late,
“The time is at hand that determines my fate:
219
Whose shield is broadest, or falchion longest,
And twice in the lists shall win the day,
I am his to claim and carry away.
But till that day all suit is vain—
In strict retirement I remain.”
| The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd | |