The Princess in the Tower

The Princess in the Tower by Sara Teasdale

From Helen of Troy and Other Poems Part II

I

The Princess sings:

I am the princess up in the tower
      And I dream the whole day thro'
Of a knight who shall come with a silver spear
      And a waving plume of blue.

I am the princess up in the tower,
      And I dream my dreams by day,
But sometimes I wake, and my eyes are wet,
      When the dusk is deep and gray.

For the peasant lovers go by beneath,
      I hear them laugh and kiss,
And I forget my day-dream knight,
      And long for a love like this.

II

The Minstrel sings:

I lie beside the princess' tower,
      So close she cannot see my face,
And watch her dreaming all day long,
      And bending with a lily's grace.

Her cheeks are paler than the moon
      That sails along a sunny sky,
And yet her silent mouth is red
      Where tender words and kisses lie.

I am a minstrel with a harp,
      For love of her my songs are sweet,
And yet I dare not lift the voice
      That lies so far beneath her feet.

III

The Knight sings:

O princess cease your dreams awhile
      And look adown your tower's gray side --
The princess gazes far away,
      Nor hears nor heeds the words I cried.

Perchance my heart was overbold,
      God made her dreams too pure to break,
She sees the angels in the air
      Fly to and fro for Mary's sake.

Farewell, I mount and go my way,
      -- But oh her hair the sun sifts thro' --
The tilts and tourneys wait my spear,
      I am the Knight of the Plume of Blue.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1923. The author died in 1933, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 75 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.