Then far and wide the heralds rode
To find the king's God-chosen bride;
They chanced on Rhodope's abode,
The overflowing Nile beside.
She stood before the heralds twain,
She fitted on the tiny shoe,
And claimed it for her own again,
And not till then their errand knew.
The richest robes they offered her,
But she refused them: "If my king
In my coarse garb, will deem me fair,
Then only will I take his ring."
Before the king the maid they brought,
And at his feet she bent the knee;
He gently raised her: "Nay, kneel not,
O sweetheart! I should kneel to thee,
"Fair as a poet's dream thou art,
Purer than lilies—Oh! mine own,
Since thou has won thy monarch's heart,
'Tis meet that thou shouldst share his throne."
The wise men stroked their beards and said:
"The gods have surely done this thing."
Then Rhodope the fair was wed,
And ruled all Egypt with the king.
HOPE AND DESPAIR.
You love the sun and the languid breeze
That gently kisses the rosebud's lips,
And delight to see
How the dainty bee,
Stilling his gauze-winged melodies
Into the lily's chalice dips.
I love the wind that unceasing roars,
While cringe the trees from its wrath in vain,
And the lightning-flash,
And the thunder-crash,
And skies, from whose Erebus depths outpours
In slanting drifts the autumnal rain.
You sigh to find that the time is here
When leaves are falling from bush and tree;
When the flowerets sweet
Die beneath our feet,
And feebly totters the dying year
Into the mists of eternity.