Page:Last Poems.djvu/74

 Entered the guards, brought by her messenger. Thus was he captured, slain, and on her breast Soon shone the guerdon of her treachery, The price of blood; in gold made manifest.

I might have killed her? Brave men have died thus. Revenge demanded keener punishment. So I walked softly on those lilac hills, Touching my rhibab lightly as I went.

I found her fair: 't was no unpleasant task In the young spring-time when the fruit-trees flower, To pass her door, and pause, and pass again, Shading mine eyes against her beauty's power.

Warmly I wooed her, while the almond trees Broke into fragile clouds of rosy snow. Her dawning passion feared her lord's return, Ever she pleaded softly, "Let us go."

But I spoke tenderly, and said, "Beloved, Shall not thy lips give orders to my heart? Yet there is one small matter in these hills Claiming attention ere I can depart.

"Let us not waste these days; thine absent lord Cannot return, thou know'st, before the snow Has melted, and the almond fruits appear." This time she answered, "Naught but thee I know!"

I too was young; I could have loved her well When her soft eyes across the twilight burned; 62