Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/414

SONGS AND BALLADS To reach that spot I little care!

There all the droning priests are met;

All the old cripples, too, are there

That unto shrines and altars cling

To filch the Peter-pence we bring";—

Said Aucassin to Nicolette.

With gowns well tattered by the briars,

The saints who lift their eyes and whine:

I like them not—a starveling set!

Who'd care with folk like these to dine?

The other road 't were just as well

That you and I should take, ma belle!"—

Said Aucassin to Nicolette.

With pleasant comrades whom we know,

Fair scholars, minstrels, lusty knights

Whose deeds the land will not forget,

The captains of a hundred fights,

The men of valor and degree:

We'll join that gallant company,"—

Said Aucassin to Nicolette.

And beauteous ladies debonair,

The pretty dames, the merry brides,

Who with their wedded lords coquette

And have a friend or two besides,—

And all in gold and trappings gay,

With furs, and crests in vair and gray"

Said Aucassin to Nicolette.

And they who roam the world like kings,

Are gathered there, so blithe and free!

Pardie! I'd join them now, my pet, 384