King Baldwin
Reared upwards, when the rushing floods of heaven
Stunned all our senses. Scarce I seemed to heed
Yet saw the King, checking his half-mad steed
One 1nstant, snatch the bridle of Yolande;
Then off they flew, like spirits of the storm:
Flew like two destinies, linked hand in hand.
I caught a lightning glimpse of either form,
I heard like fairy bells a girl's laugh ring;
And in the darkness vanished bride and King.
Our routed troops dispersed by twos and threes
Hither and thither; on the plain some left
Their smitten horses rolling while they sought,
As did the King, a refuge in the hills,
And found it where he found it—at the gate
Of a half-ruined convent, desolate,
Dwelt in by aged monks. The doors flew wide,
And through them passed the King, and that fair bride,
Whose hair streamed back upon the wind that day;
Ah me, that wild young queen, the tempest o'er,
Like a tired child after her short hour's play,
Sleeps in her marble tomb for evermore!
In time these gloomy walls received us all;
And by the bright hearth of the convent hall,
Darkness without and ceaseless thunder rolls,
This young impetuous pair of happy souls
Stunned all our senses. Scarce I seemed to heed
Yet saw the King, checking his half-mad steed
One 1nstant, snatch the bridle of Yolande;
Then off they flew, like spirits of the storm:
Flew like two destinies, linked hand in hand.
I caught a lightning glimpse of either form,
I heard like fairy bells a girl's laugh ring;
And in the darkness vanished bride and King.
Our routed troops dispersed by twos and threes
Hither and thither; on the plain some left
Their smitten horses rolling while they sought,
As did the King, a refuge in the hills,
And found it where he found it—at the gate
Of a half-ruined convent, desolate,
Dwelt in by aged monks. The doors flew wide,
And through them passed the King, and that fair bride,
Whose hair streamed back upon the wind that day;
Ah me, that wild young queen, the tempest o'er,
Like a tired child after her short hour's play,
Sleeps in her marble tomb for evermore!
In time these gloomy walls received us all;
And by the bright hearth of the convent hall,
Darkness without and ceaseless thunder rolls,
This young impetuous pair of happy souls
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