Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE THREE KNIGHTS by ISABEL ECCLESTONE MACKAY

First Line: HERE COME THREE KNIGHTS
Last Line: SHALL I BEHOLD MY DAUGHTER JANE!
Subject(s): KNIGHTS & KNIGHTHOOD;

"HERE come three knights
All out of Spain
A-courting for
Your daughter Jane."
@3But one is dwarfed and one is old
And one has cruel lips and cold!@1

"My daughter Jane
Is yet too young
To understand
Your flattering tongue."
@3The one with cruel lips drew near
And laid pale hands upon my dear!@1

"Be she young,
Or be she old,
For her beauty
She must be sold."
@3He wore a long plume and a sword
And no one there durst speak a word!@1

But, oh, his gold, when they were wed
Was not as golden as her head—
And never, though I sail to Spain,
Shall I behold my daughter Jane!



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