Helen of Troy And Other Poems(6)

    I

    The Princess sings：

    I am the princess up in the towerAnd I dream the whole day thro'Of a knight¹ who shall come with a silver spearAnd a waving plume² of blue.

    I am the princess up in the tower,And I dream my dreams by day,But sometimes I wake, and my eyes are wet,When the dusk is deep and gray.

    For the peasant lovers go by beneath,I hear them laugh and kiss,And I forget my day-dream knight,And long for a love like this.

    II

    The Minstrel sings：

    I lie beside the princess' tower,So close she cannot see my face,And watch her dreaming all day long,And bending with a lily's grace.

    Her cheeks are paler than the moonThat sails along a sunny sky,And yet her silent mouth is redWhere tender words and kisses lie.

    I am a minstrel with a harp,For love of her my songs are sweet,And yet I dare not lift the voiceThat lies so far beneath her feet.

    III

    The Knight sings：

    O princess cease your dreams awhileAnd look adown your tower's gray side ——The princess gazes far away,Nor hears nor heeds³ the words I cried.

    Perchance my heart was overbold,God made her dreams too pure to break,She sees the angels in the airFly to and fro for Mary's sake.

    Farewell, I mount and go my way,—— But oh her hair the sun sifts⁴ thro' -The tilts⁵ and tourneys wait my spear,I am the Knight of the Plume of Blue.