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110
UNA'S BRIDAL.
I
Maid Una was the sweetest flowerThat ever pined in loveless bower;
And when the moon was in the wane,
Singing sate she, bird alane—
O the fair lily!
Alfar-sweet she sings, I trow,
To her cithern soft and low;
But what she singeth none may know.
And the white lily is fairest of flowers!
II
This night the elves o'er all the landWeave their weird circlets, hand in hand;
And o'er men's fate—as sagas say—
Dominion hold till break of day;
(O the fair lily!)
111
Comes Jarl Mord the grisly knight,
To bear away that bird so bright;
For the white lily is fairest of flowers!
III
Even now, beneath the lapsing moon,His long-haired billmen's rowing tune
Rolls in towards the slumbering shore,
To the slow cadence of the oar.
(O the fair lily!)
Rich gifts the haughty bridegroom brings—
Scarlets and furs, and torques and rings:
The spoils of war, the gift of kings;
And the white lily is fairest of flowers!
IV
But two more welcome gifts, I wot,The grimly Jarl hath all forgot:
Nor gentle heart, nor courtesy
Brings he with him o'er the sea,
For the fair lily!
So in the ghostly midnight air,
With loosened locks and swan-breast bare,
112
O the white lily is fairest of flowers!
V
A wild, sweet song of magic power:A wierd Troll-rune, until this hour
Sung by none of mortal breath;
Nor kenneth she the words she saith—
O the fair lily!
In a sweven they were taught her,
By a Neck in Torfa-water,
For his love who vainly sought her;
For the white lily is fairest of flowers!
VI
But to-night, she kenneth well,Is a moment when their spell
Deftly woven, to her breast
Will bring whate'er she loveth best;
(O the fair lily!)
And so she weaves the live-night-long
The mystic meshes of her song,
To guard her virgin troth from wrong;
For the white lily is fairest of flowers!
113
VII
It is near the dawn of day:All the east grows silvery-grey;
And westward o'er the moorlands brown,
In golden haze the moon goes down;
(O the fair lily!)
On the meer its wan light sleeps—
O'er the willowy marish creeps—
O'er the tears Maid Una weeps;
And the white lily is fairest of flowers!
VIII
It dips—is gone!—and through the roomPass a whisper and a gloom;
But with great eyes gleaming wide
On the dark on either side,
O the fair lily!
Stints she not her rune forlorn—
Till, hark! the echoes of a horn
Up the valley faintly borne!
O the white lily is fairest of flowers!
IX
Weird murmurs on the night-wind came—And one low whisper breathed her name!
114
Airs as from Asgard seemed to blow,
O the fair lily!
And through the glimmering window-space
The morning star shone on her face,
And flusht it with unearthly grace.
O the white lily is fairest of flowers!
X
From her siege upriseth she,In her maiden majesty;
Whispering, “Right the runes have sped:
At dawn the Jarl will find me dead!”
(O the fair lily!)
Then once again, and nearer borne,
A wild mot of the woodland horn
Rung echoing through the darksome morn—
And the white lily is fairest of flowers!
XI
And, as in answer, from the shoreThe salt wind came with gathering blore;
And on its blast, abrupt and strong,
She heard the Viking's galley-song—
O the fair lily!
115
She flitted to her silken bed,
And on the pillow laid her head;
O the white lily is fairest of flowers!
XII
On either side with dainty careShe spread her veil of amber hair.
She clasped her hands upon her breast,
And crossed her maiden limbs to rest—
O the fair lily!
Murmuring in the dim star-shine,
With a waning voice divine,
“Love of my dreams, I shall soon be thine!”
And the white lily is fairest of flowers!
XIII
As the soft warm summer moonSteals upon the dark of June,
Through the chamber husht and holy,
Stole a splendour, softly, slowly;
(O the fair lily!)
And in its midst beside her stood,
A belted ranger of the wood—
No huntsman he of mortal brood!
And the white lily is fairest of flowers!
116
XIV
A radiant form, a shape of light,Such as on weird midsummer-night
From wandering meteors have their birth,
Between the trancèd heaven and earth—
(O the fair lily!)
Or 'mid those magic isles that lie
In purple depths of western sky,
When throbs the gloaming-star on high;
And the white lily is fairest of flowers!
XV
Round her streamed the splendours golden—Still she lay in trance upfolden;
While he knelt and o'er her smiled,
As one may o'er a sleeping child,
(O the pale lily!)
Then, shedding from her forehead fair
The rippling glory of her hair,
A long, fond kiss imprinted there;
For the white lily is fairest of flowers!
XVI
Faint as the first warm tinge that tellsOf dawn along the winter Fells,
117
A tremulous flush of rosy flame;
O the fair lily!
His hand upon her heart he laid,
And “Wake, my love, my bride!” he said—
“Awake and come—the wad is paid!”
And the white lily is fairest of flowers!
XVII
Slowly her languid lids she raised,And upwards in his deep eyes gazed,
With that long, passionate look—above
All words!—that says, “I trust—and love!”—
O the fair lily!
Then with a stifled cry of fear
She started—for distinct and clear
Was heard the clang of chanticleer!
O the white lily is fairest of flowers!
XVIII
She started—rose; as o'er the seaThe young moon riseth quietly,
And on her moveless image there
Looks sweetly down—so sad, so fair
(O the pale lily!)
118
She hung above the silent bed,
Where lay her earthly shadow—dead.
And the white lily is fairest of flowers!
XIX
“Spirit to spirit—clay to clay!”He whispered. “Come, O come away,
While yet the Alfar hold their power—
It passes with the dawning hour!”
(O the fair lily!)
Then, as twin stars at morning fade,
Fairy knight and phantom maid
Vanished in the ebbing shade.
And the white lily is fairest of flowers! . .
XX
Up the breezy welkin, hark!Sweetly shrills the joyous lark;
The wood-dove at her window-pane
Taps and coos, and taps again;
O the fair lily!
Her white fawn waits her in the brake;
Her swans beside the sedgy lake;
Her hooded falcon calls “awake!”
For the white lily is fairest of flowers!
119
XXI
Round her chamber-door the gleemenSinging throng with all her women;
And in courtyard, by his steed
Stands her sire in festal weed;
O the fair lily!
For in the sun, betwixt the jags
Of the outmost skerry-crags,
Flap the bridegroom's galley-flags;
And the white lily is fairest of flowers!
XXII
And now he comes, with clang of horsemen,And the tramp of mailèd oarsmen,
Bearing on their shoulders broad
Many a blood-won buckler-load,
For the fair lily!
And loudly as he leaps from sell,
Swears the Jarl, “By heaven and hell,
My bonny bride loves her pillow well!”
But the white lily is fairest of flowers! . . .
XXIII
And they found her lying dead,On her white, unruffled bed—
120
In her bride-gear stiff with gold;
O the fair lily!
Folded limb and claspèd palm—
Wan lip smiling icy-calm—
Bright locks breathing airs of balm!
For the white lily is fairest of flowers!
XXIV
Wept that stern, red-handed Jarl—Wept each bearded kemp and karl—
Wept her bower-maidens all,
As they wrapt in funeral pall
The fair, pale lily!
And at sundown laid her weeping—
Gold and amber round her heaping—
Where her warrior sires were sleeping:
(For the white lily is fairest of flowers!)
XXV
Long-locked Vikings, Baresarks grim,Stark of shoulder, huge of limb—
Sleeping as in stricken field,
With brand and byrnie, helm and shield,
To guard the fair lily!
121
Each beneath his grassy mound,
Till Heimdall's doomful trumpet sound;
But the white lily is fairest of flowers!
XXVI
And there all night till break of mornWound echoes of a woodland horn,
With carols such as minstrels sing,
To grace the bridal of a king;
(O the fair lily!)
Sweet-warbled in a selcouth tongue,
To unseen harps that wildly rung;
And over all a glory hung;
For the white lily is fairest of flowers!
XXVII
And still on summer nights, they say,Folks that to Althing ride that way
Draw rein, and hold their breath to hear
The unearthly music floating clear.
(O the fair lily!)
And whisper when the wondrous light
Beholding, “'Tis the blessèd spright
Of Unna and her fairy knight!”
And the white lily shall be my flower!
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