And the doors closed, and midnight from the domes
Was sounded, and the people sought their homes.
But on the morrow, like a dreadful bird,
Flew swift the tidings of this sudden woe,
And reached the Prince’s paramour, who heard
Aghast, as one who crieth loud, “The blow
Is fallen! I am the cause!”—as one who saith,
“Now let me die, whose hands have given death!”
So gat her to the town remorsefully,
White with a mortal tremor and the sin