And his old tutor, Doctor Hermann, Was brought from Bonn to teach her German. And there in her beauty and her grace The wayward maiden grew ; And, every day, of her form or face The blush of the rose was shed; And soon she grasped the learned lore And turned from the volume to explore Alas! her bliss was not the same As it was in other years; For with new knowledge sorrow came, Oft, till the Count came up from wine, And oft on some rude cliff she stood, Her light harp in her hand, And still, as she looked on the gurgling flood, She sang of her native land. And when Count Otto pleaded well For priest, and ring, and vow, She heard the knight that fond tale tell, "Henceforth mine eyes have learned to weep, "As never till now they wept : "Twelve months, dear Otto, let me grieve "For my own, my childhood's home, "Where the sun at noon, or the frost at eve, "Did never dare to come : "And when the spring its smiles recalls, "Thy maiden will resign "The holy hush of her father's halls, And if you dared to ask again, She answered with a frown. Some people have a knack, we know, To cowards of their neighbours' duels, To poets of the wrong Review, And to the French of Waterloo. The Count was not of these; he never The winter storms went darkly by; Upon the rolling Rhine; And spring brought back to the budding flowers, Its genial light and freshening showers, And music to the shady bowers, And verdure to the vine. And now it is the First of May; For how should sorrow lower On brow of rustic or of knight, In the hall of Belmont Tower? Stately matron and warrior tall As through the gate they throng; "A voice ye hear not, in mine ear is crying; What does the sad voice say? Dost thou not heed thy weary father's sighing? Return, return to-day! Twelve moons have faded now! My daughter, where art thou?' "Peace! in the silent evening we will meet thee, Gray ruler of the tide! Must not the lover with the loved one greet thee? The bridegroom with his bride? Deck the dim couch aright, The bridal couch, to-night." The nurses to the children say, The Rhine to the heights of the beetling tower Sent up a cry of fiercer power, And again the maiden's cheek was grown As white as ever was marble stone, And the bridesmaid her hand could hardly hold, Its fingers were so icy cold. Rose Count Otto from the feast, As entered the hall the hoary Priest. That hoary Priest in his youth had been; From a prophet's coffin a hallowed nail, The powers of darkness shrank with dread; And Satan felt that no disguise Could hide him from those chastened eyes. G |