Page:The Sad Years.djvu/91

THE QUEEN (Continued) I saw wild fury seize her home, I heard a red wind scream, I saw the groaning roof-tree fall, the flame on wall and beam. I fell upon the broken way, struck down by chill despair: “My life's long love, my only joy, my dear beyond compare, A thousand souls will bleed with mine, a thousand hearts expire, To see so fair a form as thine upon a martyr's fire.” From out the glow, from out the flame, from ruin fierce and wild, I saw her come with dancing feet and glad face like a child, Her red-gold hair, her snow-white brow, her gown of silken green: Out through the ruins of her home, she walked as would a queen. Ni Houlihan, Ni Houlihan, she came a splendid queen. [83]