ADELIL

Proud Adelil! Proud Adelil!

Why does she lie so cold?

( I made her shrink, I made her reel,

I made her white lids fold. )

We sat at banquet, many maids,

She like a Valkyr free.

( I hated the glitter of her braids,

I hated her blue eye's glee! )

In emerald cups was poured the mead;

Icily blew the night.

( But tears unshed and woes that bleed

Brew bitterness and spite. )

“A goblet to my love!” she cried,

“Prince where the sea-winds fly!”

( Her love!— it was for that he died,

And for it she should die. )

She lifted the cup and drank — she saw

A heart within its lees.

( I laughed like the dead who feel the thaw

Of summer in the breeze. )

They looked upon her stricken still,

And sudden they grew appalled.

( “It is thy lover's heart!” I shrill

As the sea-crow to her called. )

Palely she took it — did it give

Ease there against her breast?

( Dead — dead she swooned, but I cannot live,

And dead I shall not rest. )