Page:The Collected Poems of Dora Sigerson Shorter.djvu/40

And then the stern Earl Roderick
From his fierce steed came down;
The sneer still curled upon his lip,
His eyes still held the frown.

He strode right haughtily and quick
Into the banquet hall,
And stood among the wedding guests,
The greatest of them all.

He gave scant greeting to the throng,
He waved the guests aside;
“Now haste, for I, Earl Roderick,
Will wait long for no bride.

“And I must in the saddle be
Before the night is grey;
So, quickly with the marriage lines,
And let us ride away.”

While spoke the great Earl Roderick
There came into the hall
His little bride, all trembling,
As though she soon must fall.

Her mother held her snow-white hand
And wept most bitterly;
She whispered, “If I had my will
This thing should never be.”

Her father muttered in his beard,
“Thus do the clans unite;
Yet were there other way, I vow,
This troth they should not plight.”

And when the two were wedded one,
He raised his hand and said,
“This is the link that binds the clans;
God's blessing on her head.”