Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/310

THE BLAMELESS PRINCE And since, for all the joy, theirs was a sin

That baned them with one bane; since many men

Had sought her love, but one alone could win

That largess, with his blameless life till then

Inviolate,—they bargained for love's sake

No severance of their covert league to make.

Yet, since nobility compelled them still,

They pledged themselves for honor's sake to hold

This hidden unto death; at either's will

To meet and part in secret; to infold

In their own hearts their trespass and delight,

Nor look their love, but guard it day or night.

fell the blameless Prince. That day more late

Than wont he reached the presence of the Queen,

Deep in a palace chamber, where she sate

Fondling his child. The sunset lit her mien,

And made a saintly glory in her hair;

An awe came on him as he saw her there.

And, because perfect love suspecteth not,

She found no blot upon his brow. 'T was good

To take a pleasure in her wedded lot,

And watch the infant creeping where he stood;

And, as he bent his head, she little wist

What kisses burned upon the lips she kissed.

And he, still kind and wise in his decline,

Seeing her trustful calm, had little heart

To shake it. So his conduct gave no sign

Of broken faith; no slurring of his part

Betrayed him to the courtiers or the wife.

Perhaps a second spring-time in his life

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