Page:Early poems of William Morris.djvu/183

 Giles and Miles and Gervaise there,

Ladies' Gard must meet the war;

Whatsoever knights these are,

Man the walls withouten fear!

Axes to the apple-trees,

Axes to the aspens tall!

Barriers without the wall

May be lightly made of these.

O poor shivering Isabeau;

Poor Ellayne le Violet,

Bent with fear! we miss to-day

Brave Jehane du Castel beau.

O poor Mary, weeping so!

Wretched Constance fille de fay!

Verily we miss to-day

Fair Jehane du Castel beau.

The apples now grow green and sour

Upon the mouldering castle-wall,

Before they ripen there they fall:

There are no banners on the tower.

The draggled swans most eagerly eat

The green weeds trailing in the moat;

Inside the rotting leaky boat

You see a slain man's stiffen'd feet.