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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=519741" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>William and Helen</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">I.<br>From heavy dreams fair Helen rose,<br>And eyed the dawning red:<br>'Alas, my love, thou tarriest long!<br>O art thou false or dead?'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">II. <br>With gallant Fred'rick's princely power<br>He sought the bold Crusade;<br>But not a word from Judah's wars <br>Told Helen how he sped.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">III.<br>With Paynim and with Saracen<br>At length a truce was made,<br>And every knight return'd to dry <br>The tears his love had shed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">IV.<br>Our gallant host was homeward bound<br>With many a song of joy;<br>Green waved the laurel in each plume,<br>The badge of victory.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">V.<br>And old and young, and sire and son,<br>To meet them crowd the way,<br>With shouts, and mirth, and melody,<br>The debt of love to pay.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">VI.<br>Full many a maid her true-love met,<br>And sobb'd in his embrace,<br>And flutt'ring joy in tears and smiles<br>Array'd full many a face.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">VII.<br>Nor joy nor smile for Helen sad<br>She sought the host in vain;<br>For none could tell her William's fate,<br>In faithless, or if slain.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">VIII.<br>The martial band is past and gone;<br>She rends her raven hair, <br>And in distraction's bitter mood<br>She weeps with wild despair.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">IX.<br>'O rise, my child,' her mother said,<br>'Nor sorrow thus in vain;<br>A perjured lover's fleeting heart<br>No tears recall again.'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">X.<br>'O mother, what is gone, is gone,<br>What's lost for ever lorn:<br>Death, death alone can comfort me;<br>O had I ne'er been born!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XI.<br>'O break, my heart, - O break at once!<br>Drink my life-blood, Despair!<br>No joy remains on earth for me,<br>For me in Heaven no share.'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XII.<br>'O enter not in judgement, Lord!'<br>The pious mother prays;<br>'Impute not guilt to thy frail child!<br>She knows not what she says.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XIII.<br>'O say thy pater noster, child,<br>O turn to God and grace!<br>His will, that turn'd thy bliss to bale,<br>Can change thy bale to bliss.'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XIV.<br>'O mother, mother, what is bliss?<br>O mother, what is bale?<br>My William's love was heaven on earth,<br>Without it earth is hell.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XV.<br>'Why should I pray to ruthless Heaven,<br>Since my loved William's slain?<br>I only pray'd for William's sake,<br>And all my prayers were vain.'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XVI.<br>'O take the sacrament, my child,<br>And check these tears that flow;<br>By resignation's humble prayer,<br>O hallow'd be thy woe!'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XVII.<br>'No sacrament can quench this fire,<br>Or slake this scorching pain;<br>No sacrament can bid the dead<br>Arise and live again.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XVIII.<br>'O break, my heart, - O break at once!<br>Be thou my God, Despair!<br>Heaven's heaviest blow has fallen on me,<br>And vain each fruitless prayer.'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XIX.<br>'O enter not in judgement, Lord,<br>With thy frail child of clay!<br>She knows not what her tongue has spoke;<br>Impute it not, I pray!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XX.<br>'Forbear, my child, this desperate woe,<br>And turn to God and grace;<br>Well can devotion's heavenly glow<br>Convert thy bale to bliss.'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXI.<br>'O mother, mother, what is bliss?<br>O mother, what is bale?<br>Without my William what were heaven,<br>Or with him what were hell?'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXII.<br>Wild she arraigns the eternal doom,<br>Upbraids each sacred power,<br>Till, spent, she sought her silent room,<br>All in the lonely tower.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXIII.<br>She beat her breast, she wrung her hands, <br>Till sun and day were o'er,<br>And through the glimmering lattice shone<br>The twinkling of the star.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXIV.<br>Then, crash! the heavy drawbridge fell<br>That o'er the moat was hung;<br>And, clatter! clatter! on its boards<br>The hoof of courser rung.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXV.<br>The clank of echoing steel was heard<br>As off the rider bounded;<br>And slowly on the winding stair<br>A heavy footstep sounded.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXVI.<br>And hark! and hark! a knock - Tap! tap!<br>A rustling stifled noise;-<br>Door-latch and tinkling staples ring;-<br>At length a whispering voice.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXVII.<br>'Awake, awake, arise, my love!<br>How, Helen, dost thou fare?<br>Wak'st thou, or sleep'st? laugh'st thou or weep'st?<br>Hast thought on me, my fair?'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXVIII.<br>'My love! my love! - so late by night!-<br>I waked, I wept for thee:<br>Much have I borne since dawn of morn;<br>Where, William, couldst thou be?'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXIX.<br>'We saddle late - from Hungary<br>I rode since darkness fell;<br>And to its bourne we both return<br>Before the matin-bell.'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXX.<br>'O rest this night within my arms,<br>And warm thee in their fold!<br>Chill howls through hawthorn bush the wind:-<br>My love is deadly cold.'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXXI.<br>'Let the wind howl through hawthorn bush!<br>This night we must away;<br>The steed is wight, the spur is bright;<br>I cannot stay till day.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXXII.<br>'Busk, busk, and boune! Thou mount'st behind<br>Upon my black barb steed:<br>O'er stock and stile, a hundred miles,<br>We haste to bridal bed.'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXXIII.<br>'To-night - to-night a hundred miles!-<br>O dearest William, stay!<br>The bell strikes twelve - dark, dismal hour!<br>O wait, my love, till day!'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXXIV.<br>'Look here, look here - the moon shines clear-<br>Full fast I ween we ride;<br>Mount and away! for ere the day<br>We reach our bridal bed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXXV.<br>'The black barb snorts, the bridle rings;<br>Haste, busk, and boune, and seat thee!<br>The feast is made, the chamber spread,<br>The bridal guests await thee.'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXXVI.<br>Strong love prevail'd: She busks, she bounes,<br>She mounts barb behind,<br>And round her darling William's waist<br>Her lily arms she twined.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXXVII.<br>And, hurry! hurry! off they rode,<br>As fast as fast might be;<br>Spurn'd from the courser's thundering heels <br>The flashing pebbles flee.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXXVIII.<br>And on the right, and on the left,<br>Ere they could snatch a view,<br>Fast, fast each mountain, mead, and plain,<br>And cot, and castle, flew.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XXXIX.<br>'Sit fast - dost fear? - The moon shines clear - <br>Fleet goes my barb - keep hold!<br>Fear'st thou?' - 'O no!' she faintly said;<br>'But why so stern and cold?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XL.<br>'What yonder rings? what yonder sings?<br>Why shrieks the owlet grey?'-<br>''Tis death-bells' clang, 'tis funeral song,<br>The body to the clay.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XLI.<br>'With song and clang, at morrow's dawn,<br>Ye may inter the dead:<br>To-night I ride with my young bride,<br>To deck our bridal bed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XLII.<br>'Come with thy choir, thou coffin'd guest,<br>To swell our nuptial song!<br>Come, priest, to bless our marriage feast!<br>Come all, come all along!'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XLIII.<br>Ceased clang and song; down sunk the bier;<br>The shrouded corpse arose:<br>And, hurry! hurry! all the train<br>The thundering steed pursues.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XLIV.<br>And, forward! forward! on they go;<br>High snorts the straining steed;<br>Thick pants the rider's labouring breath,<br>As headlong on they speed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XLV.<br>'O William, why this savage haste?<br>And where thy bridal bed?'-<br>''Tis distant far, low, damp, and chill,<br>And narrow, trustless maid.'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XLVI.<br>'No room for me?' - 'Enough for both;-<br>Speed, speed, my barb, thy course!'<br>O'er thundering bridge, through boiling surge<br>He drove the furious horse.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XLVII.<br>Tramp! tramp! along the land they rode,<br>Splash! splash! along the sea;<br>The scourge is wight, the spur is bright,<br>The flashing pebbles flee.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XLVIII.<br>Fled past on right and left how fast<br>Each forest, grove, and bower!<br>On right and left fled past how fast<br>Each city, town, and tower!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">XLIX.<br>'Dost fear? dost fear? The moon shines clear,<br>Dost fear to ride with me?-<br>Hurrah! hurrah! the dead can ride!'-<br>'O William, let them be!-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">L.<br>'See there, see there! What yonder swings<br>And creaks 'mid whistling rain?'-<br>'Gibbet and steel, th' accursed wheel;<br>A murderer in his chain.-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LI.<br>'Hollo! thou felon, follow here:<br>To bridal bed we ride;<br>And thou shalt prance a fetter dance<br>Before me and my bride.'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LII.<br>And, hurry! hurry! clash, clash, clash!<br>The wasted form descends;<br>And fleet as wind through hazel bush<br>The wild career attends.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LIII.<br>Tramp! tramp! along the land they rode,<br>Splash! splash! along the sea;<br>The scourge is red, the spur drops blood,<br>The flashing pebbles flee.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LIV.<br>How fled what moonshine faintly show'd!<br>How fled what darkness hid!<br>How fled the earth beneath their feet,<br>The heaven above their head!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LV.<br>'Dost fear? dost fear? The moon shines clear,<br>And well the dead can ride;<br>Does faithful Helen fear for them?'-<br>'O leave in peace the dead!'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LVI.<br>'Barb! Barb! methinks I hear the cock;<br>The sand will soon be run:<br>Barb! Barb! I smell the morning air;<br>The race is wellnigh done.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LVII.<br>Tramp! tramp! along the land they rode;<br>Splash! splash! along the sea;<br>The scourge is red, the spur drops blood,<br>The flashing pebbles flee.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LVIII.<br>'Hurrah! hurrah! well ride the dead;<br>The bride, the bridge is come;<br>And soon we reach the bridal bed,<br>For, Helen, here's my home.'-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LIX.<br>Reluctant on its rusty hinge<br>Revolved an iron door,<br>And by the pale moon's setting beam<br>Were seen a church and tower.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LX.<br>With many a shriek and cry whiz round<br>The birds of midnight, scared;<br>And rustling like autumnal leaves<br>Unhallow'd ghosts were heard.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LXI.<br>O'er many a tomb and tombstones pale<br>He spurr'd the fiery horse,<br>Till sudden at an open grave<br>He check'd the wondrous course.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LXII.<br>The falling gauntlet quits the rein,<br>Down drops the casque of steel,<br>The cuirass leaves his shrinking side,<br>The spur his gory heel.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LXIII.<br>The eyes desert the naked skull,<br>The mould'ring flesh the bone,<br>Till Helen's lily arms entwine<br>A ghastly skeleton.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LXIV.<br>The furious barb snorts fire and foam,<br>And, with a fearful bound,<br>Dissolves at once in empty air,<br>And leaves her on the ground.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LXV.<br>Half seen by fits, by fits half heard,<br>Pale spectres flit along,<br>Wheel round the maid in dismal dance,<br>And howl the funeral song;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LXVI.<br>'E'en when the heart's with anguish cleft,<br>Revere the doom of Heaven,<br>Her soul is from her body reft;<br>Her spirit be forgiven!'</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Sir+Walter+Scott">Sir Walter Scott</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=519741" data-title="William and Helen de Sir Walter Scott" data-description="I.
From heavy dreams fair Helen rose,
And eyed the dawning red:
'Alas, my love, thou tarriest long!
O art thou false or dead?'-

II. 
With gallant Fred'rick's princely power
He sought the bold Crusade;
But not a word from Judah's wars 
Told Helen ..."></div>
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