Poetry > Lady of the lake

Canto IV.
THE PROPHECY.
181
“ And if there’s blood on Richard’s hand,
A spotless hand is mine.
“ And I conjure thee, Demon elf,
By Him whom Demons fear,
To show us whence thou art thyself,
And what thine errand here ?”—
XY.
Hallat) continue!).
“ ’Tis merry, ’tis merry, in Fairy-land,
When fairy birds are singing,
When the court doth ride by their monarch’s side,
With bit and bridle ringing:
“ And gaily shines the Fairy-land—
But all is glistening show,1
Like the idle gleam that December’s beam
Can dart on ice and snow.
“ And fading, like that varied gleam,
Is our inconstant shape,
Who now like knight and lady seem,
And now like dwarf and ape.
“ It was between Che night and day,
When the Fairy King has power,
That I sunk down in a sinful fray,