The Huguenot Lovers

Sorrowful pleading on her face is written         With love commingled, and my heart throbs fast,         Flooded with currents of a deep emotion         Stirred by the memory of that awful past.         Note the sad gaze of him who bends above her,         What say his eyes in answer to her own?         What did he think as tenderly he kissed her?         What was the meaning of his whispered tone?         Spoke he of honor's claim poor love's outweighing,         Or did her circling arms so well enfold         That the white kerchief wearing-badge of safety -         He passed the lurking foe with spirit bold.         Ah, they are vanished now - the maid and lover,         Their history the wisest cannot tell.         Mayhap upon that night of cruel slaughter,         Eager to meet the zealot's hate he fell.         Mayhap in some fair corner of the Kingdom,         Under the gentler rule of brave Navarre,         They showed the kerchief to their children's children,         And told the story of the unholy war.