His peakéd chin in his wasted hands,

He watches the flames with a sluggish eye,

Sparkle and glow in their fiery dance;

Till, deep in the embers, pictured, lie

His life’s lost hopes—its dead romance.

A royal castle beside the sea,

On breezy cliffs, exultant, set:

A Prince and Princess, young and fair,

Pacing the grassy parapet,