Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/292

THE BLAMELESS PRINCE From half the weathercocks which gilt the state,

Spying the wind and shifting where it turned—

That for love's simple sake his son could gain

The world's chief prize, which kings had sought in vain.

How could he choose but clutch it? Yet the son

Seemed worthy, for his parts were of that mould

Oft-failing Nature strives to join in one,

And shape a hero,—pure and wise and bold:

In arts and arms the wonder of his peers,

The flower of princes, prince of cavaliers;

Tall, lithe of form, and of a Northern mien,

Gentle in speech and thought,—while thus he shone,

A rising star, though chosen of a queen,

Why seek the skies less tranquil than his own?

Why should he climb beside her perilous height,

And in that noonday blaze eclipse his light?

Ah, why?—one's own life may be bravely led,

But not another's. Yet, as to and fro

The buzzing private embassies were sped,

And when the Queen's own pages, bowing low,

Told in his ear a sweet and secret story,

The Prince, long trained to seek his house's glory,

Let every gracious sentence seem a plume

Of love and beckoning beauty for his helm.

So passed a season; then the cannon's boom

And belfry's peal delivered to the realm

The Queen's betrothal, and the councils met,

And for the nuptial rites a day was set.

when the time grew ripe, the favored Prince

Rides forth, and through the little towns that mourn 262