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Contended for thy hand. And thou art free,
Being as widow left of a great man,
Who for his country's weal renounced ev'n thee!
Farewell! forget; but weep for me at times;
For Walter loses all; he doth remain
Lone as the lone wind in the wilderness,
And he must wander over all the world,
To plunder, murder, and at last to perish
By shameful death. But after vanished years
The name of Alf again shall sound in Litwa,
And from the Wajdelote's lips thou shalt again
Hear of his deeds. Then, loved one, think thou
then,
This dreadful knight, with cloud of mystery veiled.
Is known to thee alone,—was once thy husband;
And be thy pride thy desolation's comfort."
Silent Aldona did assent, although
She heard no word. "Thou goest! thou goest!",
she cried,
And her own anguish wrought with her own words.
"Thou goest!" this one word sounded in her ear.
She framed no thought, nothing recalled; her
thoughts.
Her memories, her future, tangled all;
But guessed her heart she never could return.