Page:Rosalind and Helen (Shelley, Forman).djvu/21

My husband's unlamented tomb.
My children knew their sire was gone,
But when I told them,—'he is dead,'—
They laughed aloud in frantic glee,
They clapped their hands and leaped about,235
Answering each other's ecstasy^[1]
With many a prank and merry shout.
But I sat^[2] silent and alone,
Wrapped in the mock of mourning weed.

They laughed, for he was dead: but I240
Sate with a hard and tearless eye,
And with a heart which would deny
The secret joy it could not quell,
Low muttering o'er his loathed name;
Till from that self-contention came245
Remorse where sin was none; a hell
Which in pure spirits should not dwell.

I'll tell thee truth. He was a man
Hard, selfish, loving only gold,
Yet full of guile: his pale eyes ran250
With tears, which each some falsehood told,
And oft his smooth and bridled tongue
Would give the lie to his flushing cheek:
He was a coward to the strong:
He was a tyrant to the weak,255
On whom his vengeance he would wreak:
For scorn, whose arrows search the heart,
From many a stranger's eye would dart,
And on his memory cling, and follow
His soul to it's home so cold and hollow.260

1. In Shelley's edition, ecstacy.
2. So in all authoritative editions from Shelley's onwards; but whether sat was used here, and sate throughout the poem elsewhere, advisedly, it is bootless to guess. It certainly sounds better in this particular place; but I think it often would, where sate is used.