Poetry > Lady of the lake

207
THE
LADY OF THE LAKE.
CANTO FIFTH.
®I)£ CCDmSat.
I.
Fair as the earliest beam of eastern light,
When first, by the bewilder’d pilgrim spied,
It smiles upon the dreary brow of night,
And silvers o’er the torrent’s foaming tide,
And lights the fearful path on mountain side;—1
Fair as that beam, although the fairest far,
Giving to horror grace, to danger pride,
Shine martial Faith, and Courtesy’s bright star,
Through all the wreckful storms that cloud the brovr
of War.
II.
That early beam, so fair and sheen,
Was twinkling through the hazel screen,
' [MS.—And lights the fearful way along its side.”]