Page:Early poems of William Morris.djvu/231

 Clanged to behind returning knights?

I wonder did she raise her head

And go away, fleeing the lights;

And lay the samite on her bed,

The wedding samite strewn with pearls:

Then sit with hands laid on her knees,

Shuddering at half-heard sound of girls

That chatter outside in the breeze?

I wonder did her poor heart throb

At distant tramp of coming knight?

How often did the choking sob

Raise up her head and lips? The light,

Did it come on her unawares,

And drag her sternly down before

People who loved her not? in prayers

Did she say one name and no more?

And once—all songs they ever sung,

All tales they ever told to me,

This only burden through them rung:

O! golden love that waitest me, 

The days pass on, pass on a pace,

Sometimes I have a little rest

In fairest dreams, when on thy face

My lips lie, or thy hands are prest 

About my forehead, and thy lips

Draw near and nearer to mine own;

But when the vision from me slips,

In colourless dawn I lie and moan,