Poems (Dorr)/The Princes' Chamber
THE PRINCES' CHAMBER
I stood upon Tower Hill, Bright were the skies and gay,Yet a cloud and a sudden chill Passed over the summer day—A thrill, and a nameless dread, As of one who waits aloneWhere gather the silent dead Under the charnel stone.
For before my shrinking eyes They glided, one by one,The great, the good, the wise, Who here to death were done;Sinners and saints they came With blood-stained garments on,Reckless of praise or blame, Or battles lost or won.
Then over the moat I passed And paused at the Traitors' Gate;Did I hear a trumpet's blast, Forerunner of deadly fate?Lo! up the stairs from the river, Where the sombre shadows crept,With none to help or deliver, Kings, queens, and princes swept!
O, some of those royal dames Drooped, with dishevelled hair,And mien of one who claims Close kindred with despair!And some were proud and cold, With eyes that blazed like stars,As under that archway old They passed to their prison-bars,
To prison-bars or death! Fair, hapless Anne Boleyn;That haughty maid, Elizabeth; Northumberland's pale queen;Margaret Plantagenet, Her gray locks floating wild—How the line lengthens yet, Knight, prelate, statesman, child!
Fiercely the black portcullis Frowned as I onward went;The Bloody Tower is this— Strong tower of dread portent!"Show me the Princes' Chamber," To the Yeoman Guard I said;O, the stairs were steep to clamber, And the rough vault dark o'erhead!
No sigh in the sunny room, No moan from the groined roof,No wail of expectant doom Echoed alow, aloof!But instead a mother sang To a child upon her knee,Whose peals of laughter rang Like sweet bells mad with glee.
Sunshine for murky air, Smiles for the sob of pain,Joy for dark despair, Hope where sweet hope was slain{"Art thou happy here," I cried, "Where once was lonely woe,And the royal children died,— Murdered so long ago?"
She smiled. "O, lady, yes! Earth hath forgotten them;See how my roses press, Blooming on each fair stem!The princes, they sleep sound, But love nor joy are dead;I fear no haunted ground, I have my child," she said.