THE Countess Jutta passed over the Rhine In a light canoe by the moon's pale shine. The handmaid rows and the Countess speaks: "Seest thou not there where the water breaks Seven corpses swim In the moonlight dim? So sorrowful swim the dead! "They were seven knights full of fire and youth, They sank on my heart and swore me truth. I trusted them; but for Truth's sweet sake, Lest they should be tempted their oaths to break, I had them bound, And tenderly drowned! So sorrowful swim the dead!" The merry Countess laughed outright! It rang so wild in the startled night! Up to the waist the dead men rise And stretch lean fingers to the skies. They nod and stare With a glassy glare! So sorrowful swim the dead! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE POPLAR FIELD by WILLIAM COWPER A SNOW-STORM; SCENE IN A VERMONT WINTER by CHARLES GAMAGE EASTMAN ON THE DEATHS OF THOMAS CARLYLE AND GEORGE ELIOT by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE THE ANGEL OF PATIENCE by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER THE SEAGULL by HERBERT BASHFORD THE WATCHERS by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |