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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AUCASSIN ET NICOLETE, by GRACE DUFFIELD GOODWIN
First Line: Sweet his lady, fair of face
Last Line: Nicolete were you!)
Subject(s): Love; Memory
First Line: Sweet his lady, fair of face
Last Line: Nicolete were you!)
Subject(s): Love; Memory
SWEET his lady, fair of face,
From the turret to the ground
In a moment's breathless space
Glad escape has found.
Swift she takes her wilful way
Past the blossoms drenched in dew;
(What if Aucassin were I —
Nicolete were you!)
Fair white daisies 'gainst her feet
Show less white, less pure than they;
Through the shadowy moonlit street
Love has found a way.
To the dungeon deep and chill
Comes she where her lover lies,
And the air is all a-thrill
With his passion-cries.
Sharp and bright her dagger gleams,
As she cuts her yellow hair;
Throws it him who oft in dreams
Kissed and called it fair;
Whispers, ere she turns to fly,
All the old words dear and true;
(Ah, that Aucassin were I —
Nicolete were you!)
What is left to us to-day
From that simple elder time?
Just the half-forgotten way
Of a captive's rhyme.
Yet it breathes of courage high,
Strong Love, swift to dare and do;
(Ah, that Aucassin were I —
Nicolete were you!)
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