Rowena Harold | Page 8

commotion an the strand?
A stately vessel
nears
Old Ragnor's port!
"King Richard comes!" Sir Guy with terror hears.

"Haste, Harold, pay our sovereign royal court;
Crave pardon for
me! Say, I lie at death's command!"
"Welcome, my liege!" "Sir Harold, welcome, too,
Is sight of thee,
brave knight!
But where is he.
Sir Guy de Hastyngs,--flies he now my sight?"

"Nay, nay, my liege! his sponsor will I be;
His heart for thee, his king,
doth bear allegiance true!"
The Royal Pardon.
"Your gracious pardon grant, my liege, I pray;
He has atonement

made
For all he's done:
And nature's last great debt will soon be paid;
His
life may even set with yonder sun!"
"Lead on, Sir Knight, I'd see him,
ere he pass away."
"Farewell," King Richard said, "Heaven's peace be thine! And you, Sir
Harold, kneel!
Hand me your sword!
Now rise, for valiant deeds and service leal,

Of Hastyngs' lands and Normanhurst the Lord!
Till on young Eric's
heels the spurs of knighthood shine!"
Once more old Ragnor's rocks resound with cries,
Of grief? Nay--joy
and pride!
For on the sea,
A noble, full-rigged ship doth stately ride--
The
Orient Pearl--her white cross streaming free;
Whose captain Mike
and crew now laugh at frowning skies!
The Deserted Brides.
Hearts bound so late by love's sweet hallowed chain
By war's fierce
edicts rent,
Lie bleeding sore;
And scan with eyes from weeping well-nigh spent,

Love's waning signals till they see no more.
Heaven grant them
soon to see those signals once again!
By Bertram's arrow pierced with fatal aim,
The Lion-heart was torn.
Beside him lay,
Of strength, by pain and bleeding torn,
One Eric
whom the king had dubbed that day
A knight--no worthier
yet--adorned the roll of fame!

Once more on Ragnor's brow the beacons blaze,
The Orient Pearl to
greet,
On her return.
Two brides wait mid a throng of friends to meet

Their war-proof knights. The shades of rank they spurn; They'd vowed
for each a sister's love for aye and aye.
Heart Chords.
Sweet harpings break the stilly night's repose.
The seamen list once
more,
As from her bower,
There fall those witching sounds they've heard
before,
In days long gone, from Ragnor's lofty tower.
When hearts
with voices blend what heavenly music flows!
Breathe fair, ye winds, breathe fair;
My true love's on the sea.
God,
hear the lone one's prayer,
And bring him back to me!
God guide
the helm, God fill the sails
And waft him with propitious gales!
Breathe fair, ye winds, breathe fair,
And bear my true love home!

Love's bonds shall hold him there,
No more, no more to roam.
God
guide the helm, God fill the sails,
And speed him home propitious
gales!
She flies the holy cross
That talisman divine
Shall shield from loss
and harm.
Her faithful knight and mine.
"O Christ, bid thou the
storm to cease
And fill our hearts with joy and peace!"
Home, Sweet Home!
They light the beacon fires the hills around.
All eyes are eager bent
Across the sea,
To cheer the night, a hundred voices blent
To chase
the gloomy hours with mirthful glee;
Till shouts of "ship ahoy!" made
every heart rebound.

And now for many days round Ragnor's Towers,
Life flowed in mirth
away.
"Let feast and song,"
Sir Harold said, "have free unbounded sway;

For grief and gloom have lorded here too long.
Let joy now rule the
day and strew her path with flowers!"
And yet a year, the joy-bells ring again;
For sons are born to sires
Of knightly fame.
Once more the swains, light up the beacon fires;

Old Hastyngs flashed to Normanhurst the flame;
For Harold had to
Eric given Ruth's hand and Ralph's domain.
VALE!
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rowena & Harold, by Wm.
Stephen Pryer
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