Page:The complete poems of Emily Bronte.djvu/345

Rh XLVI

of my kindred now can tell

The features once beloved so well

Those dark brown locks that used to deck

A snowy brow in ringlets small,

Now wildly shade my sunburnt neck,

And streaming down my shoulders fall.

The pure, bright red of noble birth

Has deepened to a gipsy glow,

And care is quenched the smile of mirth,

And tuned my heart to welcome woe.

Yet you must know in infancy

Full many an eye watched over me,

Sweet voices to my slumber sung,

My downy couch with silk was hung.

And music soothed me when I cried,

And when I laughed they all replied;

And 'rosy Blanche,' how oft was heard

In hall and bower that well-known word.

Through gathering summers still caress'd,

In kingly courts a favourite guest,

A Monarch's hand would pour for me

The richest gifts of royalty.