Page:Foreign Tales and Traditions (Volume 1).djvu/416

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400
LOVE TRIUMPHANT.
O fathers! impious were the deed,
Should now the votive rite proceed.

“Her love is mine, and God’s pure eyes
Reject a stolen sacrifice.
Thou, Baron, (and he lowly knelt)
Aneal me from my passions crime;
My heart too well its weight hath felt
In all the suffering of the time,
Since that sad hour of woe and guilt,—
Be thine the godlike task sublime,
To shed around thee happiness,
And even the offending one to bless!”

The mother joined the youth’s request,
With arts which woman wields the best.
The Baron’s heart was not of stone,—
What heart that was not could defy
The lover’s passionate look and tone,
A daughter’s eloquent agony?
Lo! at the shrine, where she had gone
With wounded soul, and tearful eye,
Her soul was healed, her tears were dried,
Her love was sealed and sanctified.