An Enchanted Princess.
I found her deep in the forest,1
The beeches and elms between,2
A delicate amber plane-tree3
’Mid masses of bronze and green ;4
A sorrowful, spell-bound princess5
Awaiting her lover there.6
She said : ‘ He will know me, surely,7
By the veil of my yellow hair.’8
‘ He seeks me the wide world over,9
He seeks me the whole year
through,10
To loosen the charm that binds me—11
My prince, and my lover true ! ’12
She shivered beneath her foliage13
And sighed in the twilight chill :14
‘ Aye me ! wilt thou find me never,15
Thy love that thou seekest still ? ’16
‘ I saw him,’ chirruped a blackbird,17
‘ He passed by this very spot ;18
He is come and gone, O princess !19
He passed—and he knew you not.’20
The cold wind rustled her branches21
Till the yellow leaves fell slow—22
‘ He is dead and gone, O princess !23
Many a year ago.’24