Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
VI. LoversLady Clare
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (18091892)I
And clouds are highest up in air,
Lord Ronald brought a lily-white doe
To give his cousin, Lady Clare.
Lovers long-betrothed were they:
They too will wed the morrow morn:
God’s blessing on the day!
Nor for my lands so broad and fair;
He loves me for my own true worth,
And that is well,” said Lady Clare.
Said, “Who was this that went from thee?”
“It was my cousin,” said Lady Clare,
“To-morrow he weds with me.”
“That all comes round so just and fair:
Lord Ronald is heir of all your lands,
And you are not the Lady Clare.”
Said Lady Clare, “that ye speak so wild?”
“As God ’s above,” said Alice the nurse,
“I speak the truth! you are my child.
I speak the truth, as I live by bread!
I buried her like my own sweet child,
And put my child in her stead.”
O mother,” she said, “if this be true,
To keep the best man under the sun
So many years from his due.”
“But keep the secret for your life,
And all you have will be Lord Ronald’s,
When you are man and wife.”
“I will speak out, for I dare not lie,
Pull off, pull off, the brooch of gold,
And fling the diamond necklace by.”
“But keep the secret all ye can.”
She said, “Not so: but I will know
If there be any faith in man.”
“The man will cleave unto his right.”
“And he shall have it,” the lady replied,
“Tho’ I should die to-night.”
Alas, my child, I sinned for thee.”
“O mother, mother, mother,” she said,
“So strange it seems to me.
My mother dear, if this be so,
And lay your hand upon my head,
And bless me, mother, ere I go.”
She was no longer Lady Clare:
She went by dale and she went by down,
With a single rose in her hair.
Leapt up from where she lay,
Dropt her head in the maiden’s hand,
And followed her all the way.
“O Lady Clare, you shame your worth!
Why come you drest like a village maid,
That are the flower of the earth?”
I am but as my fortunes are:
I am a beggar born,” she said,
“And not the Lady Clare.”
“For I am yours in word and in deed.
Play me no tricks,” said Lord Ronald,
“Your riddle is hard to read.”
Her heart within her did not fail:
She looked into Lord Ronald’s eyes,
And told him all her nurse’s tale.
He turned and kissed her where she stood:
“If you are not the heiress born,
And I,” said he, “the next in blood—
And I,” said he, “the lawful heir,
We two will wed to-morrow morn,
And you shall still be Lady Clare.”