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Alfred Lord Tennyson - Lady Clare
Work rating: Medium

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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