Classic Poem

I.

The lady's son rode by the mill;
The trees were murmuring on the hill,
But in the valley they were still,
And seemed with heat to cower:
They said thaThe should be a priest,
For so had vowed his sire, deceased;
They should have told him too, at least,
To fly from Fanny Power.

II.

The lonely student felt his breast
Was like an empty linnet's nest,
Divinely moulded to be blest,
Yet pining hour by hour:
For, see, amid the orchard trees,
Her green gown kirtled to her knees,
Adown the brake, like whispering breeze,
Went lightsome Fanny Power.

III.

Her eyes cast down a mellow light
Upon her neck of glancing white,
Like starshine on a snowy night,
Or moonshine on a tower.
She sang — he thoughTher songs were hymns —
An angel's grace was in her limbs;
The swan that on Lough Erne swims
Is rude to Fanny Power.

IV.

Returned, he thought the convent dull,
At best a heavy heartless lull —
No hopes to cheer, no flowers to cull,
No sunshine and no shower.
The Abbot sent him to his cell,
And spoke of penance and of hell;
But nothing in his heart to quell
The love of Fanny Power.

V.

He dreamed of her the livelong day
At evening, when he tried to pray,
Instead of other Saints, he'd say,
O holy — Fanny Power!
How happier seemed an exile's lot
Than living there, unlov'd, forgot;
And, oh, best joy! to share his cot
His own dear Fanny Power.

VI.

'Tis vain to strive with Passion's might —
He left the convent walls one night,
And she was won to join his flight
Before he wooed an hour;
So, flying to a freer land,
He broke his vow at Love's command,
And placed a ring upon the hand
Of happy Fanny Power.