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 !'

The maiden in my arms.

Then I took

High in the air The small cicada sang his slumbrous song; The autumn breeze was warm upon our brows; The waves in distance glistened.

On the rocks

Our warriors, in scarlet and in green,
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.

I

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 :