Poems (Hooper)/Princess and Page
PRINCESS AND PAGE.
I.
Spring in France is sunny and fair,Spring's sweet odors enchant the air.
Into the Louvre's casement widePoureth 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 glanceRests on the fairest face in France.
Glance answers glance with meaning sweet,Fair page—fair Princess Marguerite.
II.
The summer's scented zephyrs glideInto the Louvre's casement wide.
Summer's sunshine in golden sheenGlimmers around Queen Catharine.
"What handsome page," she mutters low,"Is he that waiteth now below?
"The velvet cap that crowns his curlsIs 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 refrainAbove the dark and sullen Seine.
A pallid moon with spectral lightChanges to ghostly day the night.
Over the river's bosom spread,Widens a stain of fearful red:
Out of the depths there rises nowA pale dead face with cloven brow,
And tangled 'mid the blood-stained curlsThere gleams a daisy wrought of pearls.