"It shall be as thou wishest," said the dame: "All cates and dainties shall be stored there Quickly on this feast-night: by the tambour frame Her own lute thou wilt see: no time to spare, 175 For I am slow and feeble, and scarce dare On such a catering trust my dizzy head. Wait here, my child, with patience; kneel in prayer The while. Ah! thou must needs the lady wed, Or may I never leave my grave among the dead." 180 And diamonded with panes of quaint device, Innumerable of stains and splendid dyes, As are the tiger-moth's deep-damasked wings; And in the midst, 'mong thousand heraldries, And twilight saints, and dim emblazonings, 215 A shielded scutcheon blushed with blood of queens and kings. Paynims pray; Blinded alike from sunshine and from rain, As though a rose should shut, and be a bud again. Stol'n to this paradise, and so entranced, Porphyro gazed upon her empty dress, And listened to her breathing, if it chanced 246 To wake into a slumberous tenderness; Which when he heard, that minute did he bless, And breathed himself: then from the closet crept, Noiseless as fear in a wide wilderness, 250 And over the hushed carpet, silent, stepped, And 'tween the curtains peeped, where, lo!-how fast she slept. Then by the bedside, where the faded moon Made a dim, silver twilight, soft he set 1 black. "And now, my love, my seraph fair, awake! Thou art my heaven, and I thine eremite: Open thine eyes, for meek St. Agnes' sake, Or I shall drowse beside thee, so my soul doth ache." Deep in the shady sadness of a vale Far sunken from the healthy breath of morn, Far from the fiery noon, and eve's one star, Sat gray-haired Saturn, quiet as a stone, A chain-drooped lamp was flickering by Still as the silence round about his lair; 5 each door; Forest on forest hung about his head The arras, rich with horseman, hawk, Like cloud on cloud. No stir of air was and hound, there, It seemed no force could wake him from Thy thunder, conscious of the new com his place; She was a Goddess of the infant world; Achilles by the hair and bent his neck; Pedestaled haply in a palace court, |