Yet thoughts of thee, my absent one, so occupied my brain,
Few traces of their incidents in memory remain.
Shall I tell of Lady Eva and the brave Sir Agilthorn,
The Brother Knights of Lombardy, the Fate of Adelmorn,
The Legend of Sir Lancelot, the Fairy of the Well,
Sir Ethelberg of Brittany, the Quest of Jorindell?
Oh! glorious days of chivalry, what can with them compare?—
When all the cavaliers were brave, and all the ladies fair;
When hero-hands won tender hearts, and deeds of bold emprize
Were paid with lays from minstrels’ lutes and looks from ladies’ eyes.