Page:Early poems of William Morris.djvu/227

 My dry hands shook and shook as the green gown show'd again,

Clear'd from the yellow flowers, and I grew hollow with pain,

And on to us both there fell from the sun-shower drops of rain.

''Wind, wind! thou art sad, art thou kind?''

''Wind, wind, unhappy! thou art blind,''

Yet still thou wanderest the lily-seed to find.

Alas! alas! there was blood on the very quiet breast,

Blood lay in the many folds of the loose ungirded vest,

Blood lay upon her arm where the flower had been prest.

I shriek'd and leapt from my chair, and the orange roll'd out far,

The faint yellow juice oozed out like blood from a wizard's jar;

And then in march'd the ghosts of those that had gone to the war.

I knew them by the arms that I was used to paint

Upon their long thin shields; but the colours were all grown faint,

And faint upon their banner was Olaf, king and saint.

''Wind, wind! thou art sad, art thou kind?''

''Wind, wind, unhappy! thou art blind,''

Yet still thou wanderest the lily-seed to find.