“Who, and for what?” She knows not, but a steam,

A blood offering, scents she in the air.

In a trance she moves; round her a void space.

Awed as if at Death’s halo on Youth’s grace,

Warriors shrink as on the Princess comes,

Abashed to look their victim in the face.

A priest’s touch—the tresses in which maids bind

Their waving hair have found themselves confined

By a sacrificial fillet, the ends

Circling each cheek, and flowing down behind.