Classic Poem

He felt that he must die to win her ...
Or he felt that he must carry her off struggling in his arms
As a warrior wins a woman ...
But even in the image of this he saw his other ...

Then she pointed at his sword, and she said:
" Whence came this? "

He blushed: " My Mother gave it to me when we parted. "

" And what said your Mother? "

" She said there was a Dragon to slay. "

" There is a Dragon, " said the girl.

" But, " he murmured, " there are no Dragons in these days. "

She too smiled in sorrow:
" There are, there are, " she said ...
" And when the dark hour comes,
You must slay, though it slays yourself. "

Suddenly it seemed that a knife twisted in his breast:
He tasted his own blood on his lips:
And for horror, he could have shrieked.

He had to go away from her then, and he almost ran:
He was gone in the woods.

She loved him so that her anguish equalled his ...
But she had to let him go to the death-hour.