Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IN THE JACQUERIE, by GEORGE AUGUSTUS SIMCOX


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IN THE JACQUERIE, by                    
First Line: Anstice and amalie watching late
Last Line: Where anstice sate long ago waiting to die.
Subject(s): Hate


Anstice and Amalie, watching late,
Sate over Sir Raoul's castle-gate,
And saw the rabble foam up in hate:
Raoul would fight and Amalie fly,
But Anstice sate quietly waiting to die.

Raoul was beaten down to his knee,
They tore from his girdle the silver key
Of the postern where Amalie meant to flee;
He cast to the tower a warning cry
Where Anstice sate quietly waiting to die.

They bound his hands and they bound his feet,
They left him his shirt for winding-sheet,
They hung up Sir Raoul against the sky;
But Anstice sate quietly waiting to die.

Amalie covered her golden head,
Hid her face from the noble dead;
But, looking out with a tearless eye,
Anstice sate quietly waiting to die.

Amalie slank through the gate to flee,
She stumbled over the caitiff's knee
Who had taken Sir Raoul's silver key:
She swooned to earth and no help was nigh;
But Anstice sate quietly waiting to die.

The rabble sate drinking the wine and mead,
And Amalie served them in beggar's weed;
But she cast up a torch to avenge her shame,
And the roof fell down on their heads in flame,
And the beams of the tower fell down from high
Where Anstice sate quietly waiting to die.

The tower lies sunk in the castle moat,
And the cushat warbles her one clear note
In the elms that grow into the brooding sky,
Where Anstice sate long ago waiting to die.





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