Ah, how all nature smiled on that fair morn
Of April when, his lovely dame beside,
Forth came the fair-haired Emperor, to sail
For distant shores.
Upon his placid countenance there beamed
The manly strength of one to empire called;
The blue eyes of his lady wandered proud
Over the sea.
Farewell, O castle of the happy days,
Vainly constructed as a nest for love!
An alien zephyr toward the desert ocean
Bears off the twain.
With kindled hopes, they leave the halls adorned
With chiselled wisdom and triumphal story;
Dante and Goethe to the castle's lord
Make vain appeal.
A sphinx of changeful aspect lures him on
To follow in her path across the sea.
He yields, and half-way open leaves the book
Of old romance.
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