Rudel and the Lady of Triploi
"Heave-to, O mariners, heave ashore
As swiftly as may be.
Go, now, my stripling page, along
The streets of Tripoli,
And say Rudel, Rudel has come—
And say that I am he."
An hour's gone by, an hour or two.
But still we're far from night.
When lo! there glides along the quay
A lady like a light.
You could not tell how tall she was
So heaved the light and fell;
The shining of enchanted gems.
The waving of a veil.
She drifts along the golden deck
And stands before Rudel.
But as she bends to kiss Rudel
He starts to meet her eyes.
That glitter in her ancient skin
Like Fire that never dies.
But as she bends to clasp Rudel,
He trembles 'neath her hair,
Ravelled in many a snowy ring
About her shoulders bare.
And as she calls his name aloud.
Her voice is thin and strange
As night-winds in the standing reeds
When the moon's about to change.
She's opened wide her bridal arms.
She's bent her wintry face;—
What ails, what ails Geofiirey Rudel?
He has fallen from his place.
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