Page:Helen of Troy and Other Poems.djvu/50

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The Princess in the Tower

Her cheeks are paler than the moon
That sails along a sunny sky,
And yet her silent mouth is red
Where 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 voice
That lies so far beneath her feet.


III

The Knight sings:

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


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


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

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