Sadly and silently he knelt His lonely hearth beside; As he hid his face and cried. But long-how long! he knelt, and prayed, He looked at last; his joy was there, In mute and motionless despair, But he laid him down beside his child, And LILLIAN saw him die-and smiled. If, in the warm and passionate hour A dream of delicate beauty melt Into the heart's recess, Seen by the soul, and seen by the mind, Adored, and not defined; A bright creation, a shadowy ray, Nothing to gaze on, and nothing to hear, But something to cheat the eye and ear With a fond conception and joy of both, For, oh! the light of my saddened theme Beautiful shade with her tranquil air, And her thin white arm, and her flowing hair, And the light of her eye so boldly obscure, And the hue of her cheek so pale and pure! Reason and thought she had never known, Her heart was as cold as a heart of stone; So you might guess from her eyes' dim rays, And hence the story had ever run, That the fairest of dames was a headless one. The pilgrim in his foreign weeds Would falter in his prayer; And the monk would pause in his half-told beads To breathe a blessing there; The knight would loose his vizor-clasp, And drop the rein from his nerveless grasp, And pass his hand across his brow With a sudden sigh, and a whispered vow, And marvel Flattery's tale was told, From a lip so young to an ear so cold. She had seen her sixteenth winter out, When she met with the beast I was singing about: The dragon, I told you, had dined that day; So he gazed upon her as he lay, Earnestly looking, and looking long, With his appetite weak and his wonder strong. Silent he lay in his motionless coil; And the song of the lady was sweet the while : "Nonny Nonny! I hear it float, Innocent bird, thy tremulous note: It comes from thy home in the eglantine, "Nonny Nonny! LILLIAN sings But surely Sir Launcelot never heard The dragon he lay in mute amaze, Till something of kindness crept into his gaze; He veiled his claws with their speckled skin, He curled his fangs in a hideous smile; And the song of the lady was sweet the while : Nonny Nonny! who shall tell Where the summer breezes dwell? Lightly and brightly they breathe and blow, "Nonny Nonny! I hear your tone, A moment! and the dragon came And the scales on his huge limbs gleaming o'er, She had won his heart, while she charmed his ear, Guiding the steed with a touch and a tone, The dame and the dragon they soared together; He bore her away on the breath of the gale— The two little dwarfs held fast by the tail. Fanny! a pretty group for drawing; My dragon like a war-horse pawing, My dwarfs in a fright, and my girl in an attitude, Patting the beast in her soulless gratitude. There; you may try it if you will, While I drink my coffee and nib my quill. CANTO II. The sun shone out on hill and grove; It was a glorious day, The lords and ladies were making love, And the clowns were making hay; |