134
THE SHADOWS
For I knew how in bed of curtained state,With his fallen jaw, and his dead eyes' hate, Lay the Ancient-Reckoning.And I knew that over the snow-soft hillsAnd over the lock of the frozen rills Rode the troopers of the King.
Dawn struck in with a daggered hand;A door was wide to the wintry land, And the King's armed men drew near.High bosoms hid 'neath the swift-drawn lace;While here was a proud enquiring face, And there the smirk of fear.
Aloof, she stood by the flower-wreathed door,Tapped with her heel on the polished floor, As though for the dance she cried.Oh, the clean, crisp air came rushing inOn that foolish riot of Sense and Sin From a world so clean and wide!
And I laughed as I moved to see them takeUnyielding grip of that subtle snake 'Who had dared to clasp her hand.She was white as a pearl by a tropic sea,She was pure as a moonlight's mystery, Then I heard the curt command,
"In the King's name, for murder foul!"Oh, the sun drew under a grey cloud cowl And became a cloistered thing,'Twas not the knave with the lank, black hair,But a milk-white maiden, wondrous fair, Who was prisoner of the King.
