Flower Pieces and other poems By William Allingham: With two designs by Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
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THE QUEEN OF THE FOREST. |
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 | Flower Pieces and other poems |  |
65
THE QUEEN OF THE FOREST.
Beautiful, beautiful Queen of the Forest,
How art thou hidden so wondrous deep?
Bird never sung there, fay never morriced,
All the trees are asleep.
Nigh the drizzling waterfall
Plumèd ferns wave and wither;
Voices from the woodlands call,
‘Hither, O hither!’
Calling all the summer day,
Through the woodlands, far away.
How art thou hidden so wondrous deep?
Bird never sung there, fay never morriced,
All the trees are asleep.
Nigh the drizzling waterfall
Plumèd ferns wave and wither;
Voices from the woodlands call,
‘Hither, O hither!’
Calling all the summer day,
Through the woodlands, far away.
Who by the rivulet loiters and lingers,
Tranced by a mirror, a murmur, a freak;
Thrown where the grass's cool fine fingers
Play with his dreamful cheek?
Cautious creatures gliding by,
Mystic sounds fill his pleasure,
Tangled roof inlaid with sky,
Flowers, heaps of treasure:
Wandering slowly all the day,
Through the woodlands, far away.
Tranced by a mirror, a murmur, a freak;
Thrown where the grass's cool fine fingers
Play with his dreamful cheek?
Cautious creatures gliding by,
Mystic sounds fill his pleasure,
Tangled roof inlaid with sky,
Flowers, heaps of treasure:
Wandering slowly all the day,
Through the woodlands, far away.
66
Late last night, betwixt moonlight and morning,
Came She, unthought-of, and stood by his bed:
A kiss for love, and a kiss for warning,
A kiss for trouble and dread.
Now her flitting fading gleam
Haunts the woodlands wide and lonely;
Now, a half-remember'd dream
For his comrade only,
He shall stray the livelong day
Through the forest, far away.
Came She, unthought-of, and stood by his bed:
A kiss for love, and a kiss for warning,
A kiss for trouble and dread.
Now her flitting fading gleam
Haunts the woodlands wide and lonely;
Now, a half-remember'd dream
For his comrade only,
He shall stray the livelong day
Through the forest, far away.
Dare not the hiding Enchantress to follow!
Hearken the yew, he hath secrets of hers.
The gray owl stirs in an oaktree's hollow,
The wind in the gloomy firs.
Down among those dells of green,
Glimpses, whispers, run to wile thee;
Waking eyes have nowhere seen
Her that would beguile thee—
Draw thee on, till death of day,
Through the dusk woods, far away.
Hearken the yew, he hath secrets of hers.
The gray owl stirs in an oaktree's hollow,
The wind in the gloomy firs.
Down among those dells of green,
Glimpses, whispers, run to wile thee;
Waking eyes have nowhere seen
Her that would beguile thee—
Draw thee on, till death of day,
Through the dusk woods, far away.
| Flower Pieces and other poems | |