Page:Harold the Dauntless - Scott (1817).djvu/57
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Canto II.
HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS.
47
To plait the rushy coronet,
And braid with flowers her locks of jet,
As when in infancy;—
Yet could that heart so simple, prove
The early dawn of stealing love:
Ah! gentle maid, beware!
The power who now, so mild a guest,
Gives dangerous yet delicious zest
To the calm pleasures of thy breast,
Will soon, a tyrant o'er thy rest,
Let none his empire share.
And braid with flowers her locks of jet,
As when in infancy;—
Yet could that heart so simple, prove
The early dawn of stealing love:
Ah! gentle maid, beware!
The power who now, so mild a guest,
Gives dangerous yet delicious zest
To the calm pleasures of thy breast,
Will soon, a tyrant o'er thy rest,
Let none his empire share.
V.
One morn, in kirtle green array'd,
Deep in the wood the maiden stray'd,
One morn, in kirtle green array'd,
Deep in the wood the maiden stray'd,