"Alas! for love, for woman's breast,
If woe like this must be!
—Hast thou seen a youth with an eagle crest,
And a white plume waving free?
With his proud quick flashing eye,
And his mien of knightly state?
Doth he come from where the swords flash'd high,
In the Roncesvalles' Strait?"
"In the gloomy Roncesvalles' Strait
I saw and mark'd him well;
For nobly on his steed he sate,
When the pride of manhood fell!
—But it is not youth which turns
From the field of spears again;
For the boy's high heart too wildly burns,
Till it rests amidst the slain!"
"Thou canst not say that he lies low,
The lovely and the brave!
Oh! none could look on his joyous brow,
And think upon the grave!
Dark, dark perchance the day
Hath been with valour's fate,
H 2
