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Alfred Lord Tennyson - Lady ClareAlfred Lord Tennyson - Lady Clare
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IT was the time when lilies blow,     And clouds are highest up in air, Lord Ronald brought a lily-white doe     To give his cousin, Lady Clare. I trow they did not part in scorn-     Lovers long-betroth`d were they: They too will wed the morrow morn:     God`s blessing on the day ! `He does not love me for my birth,     Nor for my lands so broad and fair; He loves me for my own true worth,     And that is well,` said Lady Clare. In there came old Alice the nurse,     Said, `Who was this that went from thee?` `It was my cousin,` said Lady Clare,     `To-morrow he weds with me.` `O God be thank`d!` said Alice the nurse,     ` That all comes round so just and fair: Lord Ronald is heir of all your lands,     And you are not the Lady Clare.` `Are ye out of your mind, my nurse, my nurse?`     Said Lady Clare, `that ye speak so wild?` `As God`s above,` said Alice the nurse,     ` I speak the truth: you are my child. `The old Earl`s daughter died at my breast;     I speak the truth, as I live by bread! I buried her like my own sweet child,     And put my child in her stead.` `Falsely, falsely have ye done,     O mother,` she said, ` if this be true, To keep the best man under the sun     So many years from his due.` `Nay now, my child,` said Alice the nurse,     `But keep the secret for your life, And all you have will be Lord Ronald`s,     When you are man and wife.` ` If I`m a beggar born,` she said,     `I will speak out, for I dare not lie. Pull off, pull off, the brooch of gold,     And fling the diamond necklace by.` `Nay now, my child,` said Alice the nurse,     `But keep the secret all ye can.` She said, ` Not so: but I will know     If there be any faith in man.` `Nay now, what faith ?` said Alice the nurse,     `The man will cleave unto his right.` `And he shall have it,` the lady replied,     `Tho` I should die to-night.` `Yet give one kiss to your mother dear !     Alas, my child, I sinn`d for thee.` `O mother, mother, mother,` she said,     `So strange it seems to me. `Yet here`s a kiss for my mother dear,     My mother dear, if this be so, And lay your hand upon my head,     And bless me, mother, ere I go.` She clad herself in a russet gown,     She was no longer Lady Clare: She went by dale, and she went by down,     With a single rose in her hair. The lily-white doe Lord Ronald had brought     Leapt up from where she lay, Dropt her head in the maiden`s hand,     And follow`d her all the way. Down stept Lord Ronald from his tower:     `O Lady Clare, you shame your worth! Why come you drest like a village maid,     That are the flower of the earth?` `If I come drest like a village maid,     I am but as my fortunes are: I am a beggar born,` she said,     `And not the Lady Clare.` `Play me no tricks,` said Lord Ronald,      `For I am yours in word and in deed. Play me no tricks,` said Lord Ronald,      `Your riddle is hard to read.` O and proudly stood she up !      Her heart within her did not fail: She look`d into Lord Ronald`s eyes,      And told him all her nurse`s tale. He laugh`d a laugh of merry scorn:      He turn`d and kiss`d her where she stood: `If you are not the heiress born,      And I,` said he, `the next in blood— `If you are not the heiress born,      And I,` said he, ` the lawful heir, We two will wed to-morrow morn,      And you shall still be Lady Clare.`
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