as the first to turn and draw
His sword, that had nor speck nor flaw;
_Hah! hah! la belle jaune giroflee._

But I felt weaker than a maid,
And my brain, dizzied and afraid,
Within my helm a fierce tune play'd,
_Hah! hah! la belle jaune giroflee._

Until I thought of your dear head,
Bow'd to the gilliflower bed,
The yellow flowers stain'd with red;
_Hah! hah! la belle jaune giroflee._

Crash! how the swords met: _giroflee!_
The fierce tune in my helm would play,
_La belle! la belle! jaune giroflee!
Hah! hah! la belle jaune giroflee._

Once more the great swords met again:
"_La belle! la belle!_" but who fell then?
Le Sieur Guillaume, who struck down ten;
_Hah! hah! la belle jaune giroflee._

And as with mazed and unarm'd face,
Toward my own crown and the Queen's place,
They led me at a gentle pace.
_Hah! hah! la belle jaune giroflee._

I almost saw your quiet head
Bow'd o'er the gilliflower bed,
The yellow flowers stain'd with red.
_Hah! hah! la belle jaune giroflee._

SHAMEFUL DEATH

There were four of us about that bed;
The mass-priest knelt at the side,
I and his mother stood at the head,
Over his feet lay the bride;
We were quite sure that he was dead,
Though his eyes were open wide.

He did not die in the night,
He did not die in the day,
But in the morning twilight
His spirit pass'd away,
When neither sun nor moon was bright,
And the trees were merely grey.

He was not slain with the sword,
Knight's axe, or the knightly spear,
Yet spoke he never a word
After he came in here;
I cut away the cord
From the neck of my brother dear.

He did not strike one blow,
For the recreants came behind,
In a place where the hornbeams grow,
A path right hard to find,
For the hornbeam boughs swing so,
That the twilight makes it blind.

They lighted a great torch then,
When his arms were pinion'd fast,
Sir John the knight of the Fen,
Sir Guy of the Dolorous Blast,
With knights threescore and ten,
Hung brave Lord Hugh at last.

I am threescore and ten,
And my hair is all turn'd grey,
But I met Sir John of the Fen
Long ago on a summer day,
And am glad to think of the moment when
I took his life awa