Poems (Hooper)/Princess and Page

by Lucy Hamilton Hooper

PRINCESS AND PAGE.

I.

Spring in France is sunny and fair,
Spring's sweet odors enchant the air.

Into the Louvre's casement wide
Poureth the sunshine's golden tide.

Princess Marguerite standeth there,
Jeweled daisies amid her hair.

She glances down and whispers low,
"Who is the page that waits below?

"Yon handsome youth with joyous air,
With broad white brow and shining hair."

The page looks up—his eager glance
Rests on the fairest face in France.

Glance answers glance with meaning sweet,
Fair page—fair Princess Marguerite.

II.

The summer's scented zephyrs glide
Into the Louvre's casement wide.

Summer's sunshine in golden sheen
Glimmers around Queen Catharine.

"What handsome page," she mutters low,
"Is he that waiteth now below?

"The velvet cap that crowns his curls
Is clasped with a daisy wrought of pearls.

"Last night he sang an old song sweet,
'Si douce, si douce, est la Marguerite.'

"I hear and heed; so have a care,
My handsome page—my daughter fair!"

III.

The autumn winds chant wild refrain
Above the dark and sullen Seine.

A pallid moon with spectral light
Changes to ghostly day the night.

Over the river's bosom spread,
Widens a stain of fearful red:

Out of the depths there rises now
A pale dead face with cloven brow,

And tangled 'mid the blood-stained curls
There gleams a daisy wrought of pearls.