"I care not for my broken vow,
Though God should come in thunder soon;
I am sister to the mountains now,
And sister to the sun and moon."
Through all the towns of Belmarie,
She made a progress like a queen.
"She is," they said, "whate'er she be,
The strangest woman ever seen.
"From fairyland she must have come,
Or else she is a mermaiden."
Some said she was a ghoul, and some
A heathen goddess born again.
But soon her fire to ashes burned;
Her beauty changed to haggardness;
Her golden hair to silver turned;
The hour came of her last caress.
At midnight from her lonely bed
She rose, and said: "I have had my will."
The old ragged robe she donned, and fled
Back to the convent on the hill.
Half-naked as she went before,
She hurried to the city wall,
Unnoticed in the rush and roar
And splendour of the Carnival.
"No
