Page:The Collected Poems of Dora Sigerson Shorter.djvu/185

Her silken locks of golden hair
She wound across her face all fair,
And flung her in the stream.

But stay! A champion to her side.
Has plunged within the shallow tide,
In answer to her moan.
The spaniel in the water's strife
Did for this most beloved life
Nigh sacrifice his own.

Where grew the reeds all high and rank,
Beyond the bending of the bank,
He brought her to the shore.
There where her lover with his net
Did in his fishing all forget
The trysting hour was o'er.

He to her side right quickly ran—
With swift invention of a man,
A tale did soon supply.
Of all—but truth—did he relate,
That kept his eager feet so late;
To leave her was to die.

He kissed her cheek, he kissed her chin,
His cloak he wrapped her body in.
And knelt him at her side.
He swore, as men are apt to do,
That were she dead he'd follow too
And drown within the tide.

And then, because a smile did break
About the dimples in her cheek,
He chid her cruelty.
In fine, his anger all awoke,
With this he played the master-stroke.
And found his conscience free.