Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE MANOR LORD by LAURA ELIZABETH HOWE RICHARDS

First Line: BESIDE THE LANDSMAN KNELT A DAME
Last Line: "AMEN, OUR LORD IS DEAD!"

BESIDE the landsman knelt a dame,
And slowly pushed the pages o'er;
Still by the hearth-fire's spending flame
She waited, while a hollow roar
Came from the chimney, and the breath
Of twice seven hounds upon the floor;
And, save the old man's labored moan,
The night had no sound more.

The fire flickered; with a start
The master hound upflung his head;
Sudden he whined, when with one spring
Each hunter bounded from his bed, --
And through rent blind and bolted door
All voiceless every creature fled;
The blinking watcher closed her book:
"Amen, our lord is dead!"



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