Classic Poem

Sorcerer .

" I F to avert, O king,
The doom of death at morn,
My voice had summoned thee,
I should deserve thy scorn.

" To save my worthless life
These lips shall frame no prayer
Nor ask a boon of thee;
But if thy daughter fair,

" What time the noose shall bind
My throat at break of day
Will smile upon me from
Yon lattice o'er the way;

" And round her snowy neck
The lilac sash will wear
Which girt her waist that eve
My hand was torn from there;

" And let its waving bands,
Which fell below her knee,
Appear to hold her looped
As will the halter me;

" And last, if when I drop
Her head shall sink beneath
The casement-sill, as though
Resolved to share my death; —

" Pledge this, and ask what boon
A wizard may impart, —
A spark to fire thy veins,
A hoard to freeze thy heart "

K ING.

" All this and more I grant, —
Thy life and her white hand,
The sceptre and the crown
By which I rule the land,

" Whereof thou shalt be king,
And I will go my ways, —
If thou'lt impart the spell
Of never-ending days. "

Sorcerer.

" The kneeling boor, whose shoulder
Is smitten by thy sword,
Arises, by the spell
Of kingly words a lord.

" But whom my wand shall touch,
Be high or low his birth,
My whispered charm can make
The richest of the earth.

" The Shibboleth of life
Would lose my soul, if told;
For what I ask, be thine
The charm of endless gold. "

K ING.

" So thou wilt prove that spell
Upon the chains that hold
Thy body, and transmute
Their iron into gold;

" My daughter from yon lattice
Shall smile on thee, nor falter
When in the morn the hangman
Shall loop thee with the halter;

" The lilac sash she wore,
The night I found thy grasp
Around her in the garden,
Her snowy neck shall clasp:

" And on the lattice bow
Its waving ends I'll tie,
That she may seem to thee
Like thee about to die;

" And when beneath thy feet
The fatal bolt is sped,
I swear that she shall bend,
Saluting thee, her head. "

Sorcerer.

" Now cross yon hazel wand
Upon thy royal sword,
And swear by Him who died
That thou wilt keep thy word.

" 'Tis well — dismiss these slaves,
Now take the hazel wand:
The serpent-head in thine,
The tail in my right hand.

" Thine ear bring close and listen,
And after me recite
The measured incantation,
And grasp the hazel tight.

" Nay, open not thine eyes
So wide, as in dismay;
No coward will the Gnome
Who guards the mine obey

" The Sprite must know a master
Or else the master he:
The second rune is faster;
Repeat it after me.

" Thy face is pale, O monarch,
And all alive thy hair;
Pause not! or of the malice
Of Gnome and Sprite beware.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

" 'Tis said — now touch my chains,
Ha! they grow yellow straight,
And from my wrists I feel
Them hang with heavier weight

" Now get the charm by rote;
A word misplaced rebounds
As from a rock the ball
Which him who shot it wounds.

" Ah, so! these chains thou fain
Wouldst in the furnace try?
Exchange them — and thou'lt find
Their gold no jugglery. "

At dawn beneath the gibbet
Serene the wizard stood,
And saw within the lattice
The princess he had wooed.

Around her neck the sash
As round his throat the cord;
Then knew he that the king
Had kept his royal word.

For, by its fastened ends,
The lilac noose was hung,
As from the gallows-tree
The rope that held him swung.

And when their glances met,
Upon her lip and eye
He saw a radiant smile,
And said — " Now let me die. "

And when the trap was sprung,
The princess dipped her head;
But when they came to raise her,
They found her spirit fled;

And 'twixt those corpses twain,
They saw a falcon bear
Aloft, with clenched talons,
A white dove through the air.