The shaft of malice is launched in vain,
That aims at the stranger a barbèd sneer,
And the sauciest suitors of belle Marie
Unchecked may flout him while she is near.
He turns from the guests, with their covert smiles,
Begins with a stammer, and speaks by rote
Till treasured mem’ries awake—and then
His full lip quivers, and swells his throat,
And his sinewy hand is clenched, as oft
It hath clenched at the ring of the bugle’s note.