The Romanza.

In a kingdom of mist and moonlight,      Or ever the world was known,     Past leagues of unsailed water,     There reigned a king with a daughter      That shone like a starry stone.     The day grew out o' the moonlight;      But never a day was there.     The king was wise as hoary,     And his daughter, like the glory      Of seven kingdoms, fair.     And the night dimmed over the moonlight, -      And ever the mist was gray, -     With slips of dull stars, bluer     Where the princess met her wooer,      A page like the month o' May.     In her eyes the mist, and the moonlight      In hair of a crumpled gold;     By day they wooed a-hawking,     A-hawking laughed, a-mocking      The good, white king and old.     On the sea the mist, and the moonlight      Poured pale to the lilies' tips; -     At eve, when the hawks were feeding,     In courts to the kennels leading,      He kissed her mouth and lips.     On towers the mist, and the moonlight      On a dead face staring up; -     His kingly couch was ready,     But and her hand was steady      Giving the poisoned cup.