Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/287

 THE BLAMELESS PRINCE

PRELUDE

, wherefore hither bring

Old romance, while others sing

Sweeter idyls of to-day?

Why not picture in your lay

Western woods and waters grand,

Clouds and skies of this fair land?

Are there fairer far away?

I have many another song

Of those regions where belong,

First of all, my heart and home.

If for once my fancy roam,

Trust me, in the land I view

Falls the sunshine, falls the dew,

And the Spring and Summer come.

Why from yonder stubble glean

Ancient names of King and Queen,

Knightly men and maidens fair?

Are there in our time no rare

Beauteous women, heroes brave?

Is there naught this side the grave

Worth the dust you gather there?

Nay, but these were human too,

Strong or wayward, false or true.

Art will seek through every clime

For her picture or her rhyme; 257