Page:Bohemian legends and other poems.djvu/144



Wander not in the dark forest,
 * Where a woman roams at will,

And that woman is a wood nymph,
 * Charming hearts to every ill.”

Charming hearts? With what, my mother?”
 * With her eyes of teuderest blue—

But a little while it lasteth—
 * But a day, and then they rue.

Treacherous is that nymph of forest,
 * Many youths hath led astray;

Many she has left heart-broken,
 * Many she has killed away.”

And where wanders she, my mother?”
 * By a rock, near fir trees tall.

She is queen of all the wood nymphs,
 * And the forest hidden thrall.

When the moon at full is shining, On the trees and creeping things,
 * She goes wandering in the forest,

And a wondrous song she sings.

Wander not in the dark forest,
 * Where a woman roams at will,

And this woman is a wood nymph,
 * Charming hearts to every ill.”

The day is passed, night draweth near,
 * He kissed his mother softly,

Good-night,” he said, “may Heaven send
 * A dream most fair and lovely.”