Page:Tristram of Lyonesse and other poems (IA tristramoflyonesswinrich).pdf/328

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
310
A DARK MONTH.

V.

Thirty-one pale maidens, clad

All in mourning dresses,
Pass, with lips and eyes more sad
That it seems they should be glad,
Heads discrowned of crowns they had,
Grey for golden tresses.

Grey their girdles too for green,
And their veils dishevelled:
None would say, to see their mien,
That the least of these had been
Born no baser than a queen,
Reared where flower-fays revelled.

Dreams that strive to seem awake,
Ghosts that walk by daytime,
Weary winds the way they take,
Since, for one child's absent sake,
May knows well, whate'er things make
Sport, it is not Maytime.