So wept with the Queen’s handmaidens many a burgher’s wife.
Now for the silversmiths sent they, and bade them haste to mould
A great and strong-knit coffin of silver and ruddy gold;
And with burnished steel they bade them brace it in every part.
All folk were of sorrowful spirit, and exceeding heavy of heart.
By this was the night passed over: one said, “Lo, day is near.”
And the noble Queen commanded to the minster-door to bear
Her royal dead, her husband for ever well-beloved;
And with her all friends sore weeping in long procession moved.
So when to the minster they brought him, tolled forth many a bell,