Page:Poems May.djvu/205

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Guendolen.
215
The hills crowd close, and the vale between
Narrows to a deep ravine.
Here the sombre woods divide;
Clutching the rocks with roots outspread,
Trees that lean from either side
    Make midnight overhead;
And only small bright blossoms grow
On the lawny turf that lies below.

But Guendolen, grown sudden pale,
    Sinks fainting nigh the shadowy pass,
Seeing through a leafy veil
    One pillowed on the grass.
With still arms tossed apart he lies,
Dark twilight waxing in his eyes.
Under the shade of a leaning crag
    Hung with a scarlet parasite,
Two hounds that guard a wounded stag
    Crouch at its left and right;
Old Victor, chiefest of the pack,
    Gladdest at the bugle note,
Keenest on the mazy track——
    Ripped lengthwise from the throat,