A SUITOR came to a lady bright
And wooed her on bended knee;
“I have honour and worth and a brave man's might,
And love and a life for thee.”

She spoke him soft, and she smiled him smiles,
And gave him her flower to wear,
And sent him a quest of weary miles,
And named his name in her prayer.

Till he said at last, “Sweetheart, sweetheart,
I have followed thee long and well,
And the time has come when we shall not part
Till the day of the tolling bell.”

“I am sorry, my knight,” the sweet voice said,
“You have failed to understand
Our friendship was not of a kind to wed
And another has won my hand.”

Her lover laughed such a bitter laugh
She almost feared she was wrong,
And wondered a moment of grain and chaff
Was the difference very strong.

But he thought “What pity the queen I chose
For the castle I built in Spain,
Was the poorest creature the whole world knows,
The vainest of all things vain.”