第30章 THE PALE MAIDEN

A Ballad The maiden stands so pale,So silent,withdrawn,Her sweet angelic soul Is miserytorn.

Therein can shine no ray,The waves tumble over;

There,love and pain both play,Each cheating the other.

Gentle was she,demure,Devoted to Heaven,An image ever pure The Graces had woven.

Then came a noble knight,A grand charger he rode;

And in his eyes so bright A sea of love flowed.

Love smote deep in her breast,But he galloped away,For battletriumph athirst;

Naught made him stay.

All peace of mind is flown,The Heavens have sunk.

The heart,now sorrow's throne,Is yearningdrunk.

And when the day is past,She kneels on the floor,Before the holy Christ Apraying once more.

But then upon that form Another encroaches,To take her heart by storm,'Gainst her self reproaches.

"To me your love is given For Time unending.

To show your soul to Heaven Is merely pretending."

She trembles in her terror Icy and stark,She rushes out in horror,Into the dark.

She wrings her lilywhite hands,The teardrops start.

"Thus fire the bosom brands And longing,the heart.

"Thus Heaven I've forfeited,I know it full well.

My soul,once true to God,Is chosen for Hell.

He was so tall,alas,Of stature divine.

His eyes so fathomless,So noble,so fine.

"He never bestowed on me His glances at all;

Lets me pine hopelessly Till the end of the Soul.

"Another his arm may press,May share his pleasure;

Unwitting,he gives me distress Beyond all measure.

"With my soul willingly,With my hopes I'd part,Would he but look towards me And open his heart.

"How cold must the Heavens be Where he doesn't shine,A land full of misery And burning with pain.

"But here the surging flood May deliver me,cooling The hot fire of heart's blood,The bosom's feeling."

She leaps with all her might Into the spray.

Into the cold dark night She's carried away.

Her heart,that burning brand,Is quenched forever;

Her look,that luminous land,Is clouded over.

Her lips,so sweet and tender,Are pale and colourless;

Her form,aethereal,slender,Drifts into nothingness.

And not a withered leaf Falls from the bough;

Heaven and Earth are deaf,Won't wake her now.

By mountain,valley,on The quiet waves race,To dash her skeleton On a rocky place.

The Knight so tall and proud Embraces his new love,The cithern sings about The joys of True Love!