Page:Early poems of William Morris.djvu/163



, being in the court of a Pagan castle 

This castle where I dwell, it stands

A long way off from Christian lands,

A long way off my lady's hands,

A long way off the aspen trees,

And murmur of the lime-tree bees.

But down the Valley of the Rose

My lady often hawking goes,

Heavy of cheer; oft turns behind,

Leaning towards the western wind,

Because it bringeth to her mind

Sad whisperings of happy times,

The face of him who sings these rhymes.

King Guilbert rides beside her there,

Bends low and calls her very fair,

And strives, by pulling down his hair,

To hide from my dear lady's ken

The grisly gash I gave him, when 111