Page:The complete poems of Emily Bronte.djvu/200

144 XXXV

now the house-dog stretched once more

His limbs upon the glowing floor;

The children half resume their play,

Though from the warm hearth scared away;

The goodwife left her spinning-wheel

And spread with smiles the evening meal;

The shepherd placed a seat and pressed

To their poor fare his unknown guest,

And he unclasped his mantle now,

And raised the covering from his brow,

Said, voyagers by land and sea

Were seldom feasted daintily,

And cheered his host by adding stern

He'd no refinement to unlearn.

A silence settled on the room,

The cheerful welcome sank to gloom;

But not those words, though cold or high,

So froze their hospitable joy.

No—there was something in his face,

Some nameless thing which hid not grace,

And something in his voice's tone

Which turned their blood as chill as stone.

The ringlets of his long black hair

Fell o'er a cheek most ghastly fair.

Youthful he seemed—but worn as they

Who spend too soon their youthful day.

When his glances dropped, 'twas hard to quell

Unbidden feelings' hidden swell;