Page:Poems Jackson.djvu/155

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
WOOED.—WON.
107
WOOED.
I.

W voice all confident, I knelt and cried,
Behold me at thy feet, O darling queen!
I kiss, round lowest hem, thy robe of green;
In all thy temples I have prophesied,
And cast out devils in thy name. Confide
In me. Lift up the veil that hangs between
3y eyes and thy dear face. Tell me what mean
The voices of thy people."
The voices of thy people."Far and wide
The lovely queen's sweet kingdoms lie. I found
My way to follow her to utmost bound
Of all; and listened, listened, nights and days,
To every smallest sound on her highways;
But could not once her golden sceptre reach,
Nor win the secret of her people's speech.


WON.
II.

WEARIED at last and sad, I cried "Refuse"
Me what thou wilt, my queen! At thy dear feet
Henceforth I lie and sleep, and dream, and eat
Thy locusts and wild honey. Thou mayst choose,
Perhaps, that I the latchet of thy shoes
One day unfasten. Ever incomplete