THE warrior bowed his crested head, and tamed his heart of fire, And sued the haughty king to free his long-imprisoned sire:
"I bring thee here my fortress keys,
I bring my captive train;
I pledge my faith, my liege, my lord-oh! break my father"s chain.""Rise! rise! even now thy father comes, a ransomed man this day; Mount thy good steed, and thou and I will meet him on his way:" Then lightly rose that loyal son, and bounded on his steed;And urged, as if with lance in hand, his charger"s foaming speed.
And lo! from far, as on they pressed, there came a glittering band, With one that "mid them stately rode, as a leader in the land: "Now haste, Bernardo, haste! for there, in very truth, is he,The father-whom thy grateful heart hath yearned so long to see."His dark eye flashed, his proud breast heaved, his cheek"s blood came and went;He reached that gray-haired chieftain"s side, and there dismounting, bent:
A lowly knee to earth he bent, his father"s hand he took;- What was there in its touch that all his fiery spirit shook?
That hand was cold, a frozen thing-it dropped from his like lead; He looked up to the face above-the face was of the dead;A plume waved o"er that noble brow-the brow was fixed and white; He met at length his father"s eyes, but in them was no sight!
Up from the ground he sprang, and gazed; but who can paint that gaze?
They hushed their very hearts who saw its horror and amaze: They might have chained him, as before that noble form he stood;For the power was stricken from his arm, and from his cheek the blood.
"Father!" at length he murmured low, and wept like childhood then- (Talk not of grief till thou hast seen the tears of warlike men-) He thought on all his glorious hopes, on all his high renown Then flung the falchion from his side and in the dust sat down,And, covering with his steel-gloved hand his darkly mournful brow, "No more, there is no more," he said,"to lift the sword for now: My king is false! my hope betrayed! my father-oh! the worth: The glory, and the loveliness, are passed away from earth!"Up from the ground he sprang once more, and seized the monarch"s reinAmid the pale and wildered looks of all the courtier train;And with a fierce, o"ermastering grasp, the rearing war-horse led, And sternly set them face to face-the king before the dead!
"Came I not forth upon thy pledge, my father"s hand to kiss? - Be still, and gaze thou on, false king! and tell me what is this?
The voice, the glance, the heart I sought-give answer, where are they?
If thou wouldst clear thy perjured soul, send life through this cold clay!
"Into these glassy eyes put light-be still, keep down thine ire! - Bid these white lips a blessing speak-this earth is not my sire! Give me back him for whom I strove, for whom my blood was shed! Thou canst not? -and a king! -His dust be mountains on thy head!"He loosed the steed-his slack hand fell; upon the silent faceHe cast one long, deep, troubled look, then turned from that sadplace:
His hope was crushed-his after-fate untold in martial strain- His banner led the spears no more amidst the hills of Spain!
- MRS. HEMANS (1793-1835)
martial, warlike.
mournful, sorrowful. oermastering, overpowering. perjured, forsworn. ransomed, redeemed. renown, celebrity.
sternly, austerely. troubled, disturbed. wildered, perplexed. yearned, longed.
QUESTIONS
Who was the "warrior" referred to? Who was the "king"? What did the former beg of the latter? What was his father"s name? On what condition had the king promised to deliver up Don Sancho? How did he keep his promise? What effect had this event on Bernardo"s future?
