Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/302

THE BLAMELESS PRINCE And with such gentle tact he bore a sense

Of conduct due, nor took nor gave offence,

That, as time went, he earned their trust, who first

Withheld it him, and brought them, one by one,

To seek him for a comrade; but he nursed

His friendships with such equal care that none

Could claim him as their own; nor was his word

Of counsel dulled by being often heard;

Nor would he sully his fresh youth among

The roisterers and pretty wanton dames

Who strove to win him; nor with ribald tongue

Joined in the talk that round a palace flames;

Nor came and went alone, save—'t was his wont

In his own land—he haply left the hunt

On forest days, and, plunging down the wood,

There in the brakes and copses half forgot

The part he bore, and caught anew the mood

Of youth, and felt a heart for any lot;

Then, loitering cityward behind the train,

With fresher courage took his place again.

His pure life made the wits about the court

Find in its very blamelessness a fault

That lacked the generous failings of their sort.

"With so much sweet," they swore, "a grain of salt

Were welcome! lighter tongue and freer mood

Were something more of man, if less of prude!"

And others to his praises would oppose

Suspicion of his prowess, and they said,

A woman's toy!" and, when the months were sped,

And the glad Queen was childed with a son,

Light jests upon his mission well begun

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