| |
| FROM Bosworth’s gory field where lay | |
| His king a mangled corse, | |
| With many a dint Sir Harry came, | |
| And spurred his blood-stained horse; | |
| Which all that day in that fierce fray | 5 |
| Had borne him proudly through, | |
| But still for leagues must carry him, | |
| Since fast the foes pursue. | |
| |
| From night to dawn they still went on, | |
| With followers few and faint; | 10 |
| Resting brief while in forest drear | |
| By well of some old saint: | |
| On, on from day to day they fared, | |
| Shunning each bower and hall, | |
| Until they sight one starry night | 15 |
| Bodrigan’s castle wall. | |
| |
| The knight’s shrill blast is answered fast, | |
| And blithe the warder greets him; | |
| And with a smile and with a kiss | |
| His lady-love soon meets him: | 20 |
| And in that high embrasured tower | |
| His war-worn limbs may rest; | |
| For place like that for wealth and power | |
| Was not in all the West. | |
| |
| And many a century it stood | 25 |
| To prove its ancient fame; | |
| Though but some lowly walls now bear | |
| Bodrigan’s honored name. | |
| Its princely hall, its bastions strong, | |
| Its chapel turrets fair, | 30 |
| Are gone like cloud-built palaces, | |
| And castles in the air. | |
| |
| Not long the respite: on his track | |
| The Tudor bloodhounds follow; | |
| Trevanion, Edgcumbe, with their pack | 35 |
| Creep through the woodland hollow: | |
| And now they gather round the walls, | |
| Nor care for Cornish kin; | |
| Certain if they can seize the knight | |
| His ample lands to win. | 40 |
| |
| Ay, take the lands, but not the man! | |
| He knows their purpose stern, | |
| And not with his heart’s blood that day | |
| Shall they their wages earn. | |
| Down by a secret way the knight | 45 |
| Has left his home for aye, | |
| And for the cliff he makes that hangs | |
| Over the Goran bay. | |
| |
| Fast, fast they spring upon his path, | |
| He hears their footsteps nigh; | 50 |
| Bold from the cliff he leaps, while shrill | |
| The baffled hunters cry. | |
| In the dark sea they think him drowned, | |
| As on the giddy steep | |
| They stand and look, and only see | 55 |
| The waters wild and deep. | |
| |
| They looked and jeered, and made the shore | |
| Ring with their savage shout; | |
| And still they looked, perchance to see | |
| His dead bones tossed about: | 60 |
| And then they saw a boat dash through | |
| The surge, and as she went | |
| The rescued knight above the roar | |
| His parting curses sent. | |
| |
