Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ATHULF AND ETHILDA, by HENRY TAYLOR (1800-1886)


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ATHULF AND ETHILDA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Appeared the princess with that merry child prince guy
Last Line: Wide is your error, and you never loved.
Subject(s): Love - Beginnings


ATHULF. -- Appeared
The princess with that merry child Prince Guy:
He loves me well, and made her stop and sit,
And sat upon her knee, and it so chanced
That in his various chatter he denied
That I could hold his hand within my own
So closely as to hide it: this being tried
Was proved against him: he insisted then
I could not by his royal sister's hand
Do likewise. Starting at the random word,
And dumb with trepidation, there I stood
Some seconds as bewitched; then I looked up,
And in her face beheld an orient flush
Of half-bewildered pleasure: from which trance
She with an instant ease resumed herself,
And frankly, with a pleasant laugh, held out
Her arrowy hand.
I thought it trembled as it lay in mine,
But yet her looks were clear, direct, and free,
And said that she felt nothing.
SIDROC. -- And what felt'st thou?
ATHULF. -- A sort of swarming, curling tremulous
tumbling,
As though there were an ant-hill in my bosom.
I said I was ashamed. -- Sidroc, you smile;
If at my folly, well! But if you smile,
Suspicious of a taint upon my heart,
Wide is your error, and you never loved.




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