Page:Early poems of William Morris.djvu/244

 To recollect how strong men swim.

All this, or else a life with him,

For which I should be damned at last,

Would God that this next hour were past!"

He answer'd not, but cried his cry,

"St. George for Marny!" cheerily;

And laid his hand upon her rein.

Alas! no man of all his train

Gave back that cheery cry again;

And, while for rage his thumb beat fast

Upon his sword-hilt, some one cast

About his neck a kerchief long,

And bound him.

To Godmar; who said: "Now, Jehane,

Your lover's life is on the wane

So fast, that, if this very hour

You yield not as my paramour,

He will not see the rain leave off—

Nay, keep your tongue from gibe and scoff,

Sir Robert, or I slay you now."

She laid her hand upon her brow,

Then gazed upon the palm, as though

She thought her forehead bled, and—"No."

She said, and turn'd her head away,

As there was nothing else to say,

And everything were settled: red

Grew Godmar's face from chin to head:

"Jehane, on yonder hill there stands