Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems By the Lady E. Stuart Wortley. In Three Vols |
 | I, II, III. |
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THE ZEGRI MAIDEN. |
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 | Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems |  |
THE ZEGRI MAIDEN.
“Sad Zegri Maiden! in sweet years of flowering,
What may weigh thus on thy stately step?
To cloud thy brow beneath thine hair's rich showering,
To chill the smile half trembling to thy lip.”
What may weigh thus on thy stately step?
To cloud thy brow beneath thine hair's rich showering,
To chill the smile half trembling to thy lip.”
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“Ask me not—ask me not; I would endeavour
To endure my sorrows, but to enshroud them too,
Even from myself, though ever and for ever
A low voice startles me with bodings true.
To endure my sorrows, but to enshroud them too,
Even from myself, though ever and for ever
A low voice startles me with bodings true.
Woe to the maiden who can love a stranger,
And treble woe to her that loves a foe!
What! in my Land's deliverance, is there danger,
That all my hopes should be undone below?”
And treble woe to her that loves a foe!
What! in my Land's deliverance, is there danger,
That all my hopes should be undone below?”
“Oh! Zegri Maiden, I can blame thee never—
Love, love, is of no country, and no clime;
And ever gains he strength from foiled endeavour,
To chase him from the heart in his young prime.
Love, love, is of no country, and no clime;
And ever gains he strength from foiled endeavour,
To chase him from the heart in his young prime.
Sad Zegri Maiden—hapless Zegri Maiden,
Thou must love on, till suffering ends in death—
For, with such deep conflicting sorrows laden,
Soon, soon the mourner yields her mortal breath!”
Thou must love on, till suffering ends in death—
For, with such deep conflicting sorrows laden,
Soon, soon the mourner yields her mortal breath!”
| Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems | |