Classic Poem

A youthful shepherd, passing by,
Beneath the kingly castle came;
A princess from the turret high
Looked down, with heart a-flame.

“O might I but come down to thee!”
('T was thus she spake in accents low),
“What snow-white lambs I yonder see,
How red the flowerets glow!”

The youth replied in accents low,
“O wouldst thou but come down to me!
How ruddy seem thy cheeks to glow,
What snow-white arms I see!”

And as with silent mournful love
Each morn the castle walls he neared,
He ever gazed till, far above,
His beauteous maid appeared.

Then uttered he a joyful cry—
“Sweet princess, hail! all bliss be thine!”
Her tuneful voice made sweet reply—
“I thank thee, shepherd mine!”

The winter passed, the spring appeared,
The flowerets brightly bloomed around;
Again the youth the castle neared,
His love no more he found.

He called aloud with mournful cry—
“Sweet princess, hail! all bliss be thine!”
A spirit-voice made sad reply,
“Adieu, O shepherd mine!”