Page:Harold the Dauntless - Scott (1817).djvu/43
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Canto I.
HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS.
33
XIX.
With gentler look Lord Harold eyed
The page, then turn'd his head aside,
And either a tear did his eye-lash stain,
Or it caught a drop of the passing rain.
"Art thou an outcast then?" quoth he,
"The meeter page to follow me."
'Twere bootless to tell what climes they sought,
Ventures achieved, and battles fought;
How oft with few, how oft alone,
Fierce Harold's arm the field hath won.
Men swore his eye that flash'd so red,
When each other glance was quench'd with dread,
With gentler look Lord Harold eyed
The page, then turn'd his head aside,
And either a tear did his eye-lash stain,
Or it caught a drop of the passing rain.
"Art thou an outcast then?" quoth he,
"The meeter page to follow me."
'Twere bootless to tell what climes they sought,
Ventures achieved, and battles fought;
How oft with few, how oft alone,
Fierce Harold's arm the field hath won.
Men swore his eye that flash'd so red,
When each other glance was quench'd with dread,