The Minstrel's Avowal.

O yes! I hold thee in my heart;

Nor shall thy cherished form depart

From its loved home: though sad I be,—

My heart, my Love, still cleaves to thee!

My dawn of life is dimmed and dark;

Hope's flame is dwindled to a spark;

But, though I live thus dyingly,—

My heart, my Love, still cleaves to thee!

Though short my summer's day hath been,

And now the winter's eve is keen,—

Yet, while the storm descends on me,—

My heart, my Love, still cleaves to thee!

No look of love upon me beams,—

No tear of pity for me streams:—

A thing forlorn — despairingly —

My heart, my Love, still cleaves to thee!

Thine eye would pity wert thou free

To soothe my woe; and though I be

Condemned to helpless misery,

My heart, my Love, still cleaves to thee!

The maidens wept — the clowns looked glum —

Each rustic reveller was dumb:

Sir Wilfrid struggled hard to hide

Revengeful throes and ireful pride,

That, now, his wounded bosom swelled,—

For in that youth he had beheld

An image which had overcast

His life with sorrow in the Past:—

He struggled,— and besought the youth

To leave his strains of woe and ruth

For some light lay, or merry rhyme,

More fitting Yule's rejoicing time.—

And, though it cost him dear, the while,

He eyed the minstrel with a smile.

The stranger waited not to note

The Baron's speech: like one distraught

He struck the harp — a wild farewell

Thus breathing to its deepest swell:—