Page:Early poems of William Morris.djvu/172

 Across the moat the fresh west wind

In very little ripples went;

The way the heavy aspens bent

Towards it, was a thing to mind.

The painted drawbridge over it

Went up and down with gilded chains,

Twas pleasant in the summer rains

Within the bridge-house there to sit.

There were five swans that ne'er did eat

The water-weeds, for ladies came

Each day, and young knights did the same,

And gave them cakes and bread for meat.

They had a house of painted wood,

A red roof gold-spiked over it,

Wherein upon their eggs to sit

Week after week; no drop of blood,

Drawn from men's bodies by sword-blows,

Came ever there, or any tear;

Most certainly from year to year

'T was pleasant as a Provence rose.

The banners seem'd quite full of ease,

That over the turret-roofs hung down;

The battlements could get no frown

From the flower-moulded cornices.

Who walked in that garden there?

Miles and Giles and Isabeau,

Tall Jehane du Castel beau,

Alice of the golden hair,