244
So she leaned till twilight faded and the moon's broad beam,
Slanting o'er the hills, with silver bridged the quivering
stream ;
Yet she leaned, all breathless watching, till a shadow ran,
Swifter than the winged arrow, full across that shining span.
Sudden o'er those marble features shot a passing glow,
Faint as Borealis-flashes cast on Northern snow,
Then a cold and stiffening tremor shook the lovely form,
And her head fell like the lily 'neath the chariot of the storm.
Noiseless as the downy-breasted swan might touch the
bank,
Came a lightly burthened shallop 'gainst the rushes dank ;
To her feet the maiden started as a soldier sprung
From the bark, in warrior mantle, and his arms about her
flung.
One bright smile of love all trusting on her lips there lay
Like a sunbeam, then grew colder till it died away.
