Noble Sisters

‘Now did you mark a falcon, Sister dear, sister dear, Flying toward my window In the morning cool and clear? With jingling bells about her neck, But what beneath her wing? It may have been a ribbon, Or it may have been a ring.’-- ‘I marked a falcon swooping At the break of day; 10 And for your love, my sister dove, I ‘frayed the thief away.’--

‘Or did you spy a ruddy hound, Sister fair and tall, Went snuffing round my garden bound, Or crouched by my bower wall? With a silken leash about his neck; But in his mouth may be A chain of gold and silver links, Or a letter writ to me.’-- 20 ‘I heard a hound, highborn sister, Stood baying at the moon; I rose and drove him from your wall Lest you should wake too soon.’--

‘Or did you meet a pretty page Sat swinging on the gate; Sat whistling whistling like a bird, Or may be slept too late; With eaglets broidered on his cap, And eaglets on his glove? 30 If you had turned his pockets out, You had found some pledge of love.’-- ‘I met him at this daybreak, Scarce the east was red: Lest the creaking gate should anger you, I packed him home to bed.’--

‘Oh patience, sister. Did you see A young man tall and strong, Swift-footed to uphold the right And to uproot the wrong, 40 Come home across the desolate sea To woo me for his wife? And in his heart my heart is locked, And in his life my life.’-- ‘I met a nameless man, sister, Hard by your chamber door: I said: Her husband loves her much. And yet she loves him more.’--

‘Fie, sister, fie, a wicked lie, A lie, a wicked lie, 50 I have none other love but him, Nor will have till I die. And you have turned him from our door, And stabbed him with a lie: I will go seek him thro’ the world In sorrow till I die.’-- ‘Go seek in sorrow, sister, And find in sorrow too: If thus you shame our father’s name My curse go forth with you.’ 60

SPRING

Frost-locked all the winter, Seeds, and roots, and stones of fruits, What shall make their sap ascend That they may put forth shoots? Tips of tender green, Leaf, or blade, or sheath; Telling of the hidden life That breaks forth underneath, Life nursed in its grave by Death.

Blows the thaw-wind pleasantly, 10 Drips the soaking rain, By fits looks down the waking sun: Young grass springs on the plain; Young leaves clothe early hedgerow trees; Seeds, and roots, and stones of fruits, Swollen with sap put forth their shoots; Curled-headed ferns sprout in the lane; Birds sing and pair again.

There is no time like Spring, When life’s alive in everything, 20 Before new nestlings sing, Before cleft swallows speed their journey back Along the trackless track-- God guides their wing, He spreads their table that they nothing lack,-- Before the daisy grows a common flower, Before the sun has power To scorch the world up in his noontide hour.

There is no time like Spring, Like Spring that passes by; 30 There is no life like Spring-life born to die,-- Piercing the sod, Clothing the uncouth clod, Hatched in the nest, Fledged on the windy bough, Strong on the wing: There is no time like Spring that passes by, Now newly born, and now Hastening to die.