Page:Songs, Legends, and Ballads.djvu/14

2 And one saw naught but a sign of rain,
 * And feared for his sheaves unbound;

And one is away, over mountain and plain,
 * Till the mystical treasure is found!

Through forest and stream, in a blissful dream.
 * The rainbow lured him on;

With a siren's guile it loitered awhile,
 * Then leagues away was gone.

Over brake and brier he followed fleet;
 * The people scoffed as he passed;

But in thirst and heat, and with wounded feet,
 * He nears the prize at last.

It is closer and closer—he wins the race—
 * One strain for the goal in sight:

Its radiance falls on his yearning face—
 * The blended colors unite!

He laves his brow in the iris beam—
 * He reachesAh woe! the sound

From the misty gulf where he ends his dream,
 * And the crystal cup is found!