Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/313

THE BLAMELESS PRINCE The common folk,—because the Prince had cased

His limbs in silver mail, and on his head

Worn snowy plumes, and, covered thus in white,

Shone in the fiercest turmoil of the fight;

And mostly for the whiteness of his soul,

Which seemed so virginal and all unblurred,—

They called him the White Prince, and through the whole

True land the name became a household word.

So passed the stages of a glorious reign.

The Queen in tranquil goodness reached her noon;

The Prince wore year by year his double chain;

His mistress kept her secret like the moon,

That hides one half its splendor and its shade;

And newer times and men their entrance made.

But did these two, who took their secret fill

Of stolen waters, find the greater bliss

They sought? At first, to meet and part at will

Was, for the peril's sake, a happiness;

Ay, even the sense of guilt made such delights

More worth, as one we call the wisest writes.

But with the later years Time brought about

His famed revenges. Not that love grew cold,

The lady never found a cause to doubt

That with the Prince his passion kept its hold;

And while their loved are loyal to them yet,

'T is not the wont of women to regret.

Yet 't was her lot to live as one whose wealth

Is in another's name; to sigh at fate 283