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To own thee master, and to yield myself,
My soul, my body, and my hope of Heaven,
Into thy keeping, yes, I love thee still,

And evermore shall love thee !'

Then I took

The maiden in my arms.

High in the air

The small cicada sang his slumbrous song;

The autumn breeze was warm upon our brows; The waves in distance glistened.

Our warriors, in scarlet and in green,

On the rocks

In armour and in rags, a motley throng,
With shouts exulted in their victory.

And from a little village far below

The priests came toiling up with bread and salt, Symbols of Slavic welcome: and with tears Upon their aged cheeks, they praised our deeds, And promised us an everlasting fame.

THE BALLAD OF MIRAMAR.

NABRESINA'S heights are fair, and Prosecco wine is rare!

Sweet Trieste upon her terraces is beautiful to see ;
But the loveliest by far of all things that lovely are
On the Adriatic's sounding shores, will ever be for me
Miramar !

II

O the sea is great and gray when the borras on it play,

But as gentle as a maiden in a dream when sinks the wind:

Maximilian, sailor born, sailing forth one gusty morn, In a skiff was rudely cast ashore, and thus he chanced

to find

Miramar.

III

He had sailed to East and West, trodden lands

accurst and blest;

Set the royal Hapsburg banner up against the windy

sky;

And had followed it for years, knowing nor fatigue nor

fears;

And, when sailing proudly homeward, oft his ship had bounded by

Miramar.

IV

Now, when cast upon the strand, 'twas as if enchanted land

Opened suddenly by magic to his storm-bewildered

gaze;

Long he wandered in the vale, till a port where never gale

Came to rage did he discover: then he hastened home to praise

Miramar.

V

O the laurel-roses grow and the rich camelias blow In those valleys by the sea where the wild vine clothes the hills!

O the nightingale goes mad, singing melodies half-sad, Half voluptuous, in summer, when the solemn moonlight fills

Miramar.

VI

O the breezes from the South kiss the rose upon her

mouth,

And she blushes till her petals are with crimson flooded o'er.

O the starry splendours break over thicket, grove, and

lake,

And the heavens seem with tenderness to bend and to

adore

Miramar !

VII

Now the sailor-prince did bring home the daughter of

a king,

Fair Carlotta from the teeming plains beside the northern sea :

And the bride was wild with joy, innocent, without

alloy,

When her princely husband told her that their future home would be

Miramar.

VIII

"Tis a paradise on earth, where the soul may have new birth,

Where our hearts to love may open without fear of worldly stain,'

Quoth the bridegroom to the bride: 'Let the tossing navies ride

On the deep: I sail no more, but I hasten to regain Miramar.

IX

'There the merry birds shall praise through the sweet and bloomy days

Love, the master of our spirits, while in vale and wood we stray;

We will fly the camp and court, and the tranquil sheltered port

Where our argosy of bliss may safely lie shall be alway Miramar.'

X

There the prince a palace fine built and o'er it trained

the vine,

And around it costly blossoms from remotest countries

placed :

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