Lace
up my shoe;
Put
on my Basquina;
Can
you see my black eyes?
I
am Manuel’s duchess.
In front of the box of the Queen and the
Duke
Dolores sits, flirting her fan;
The church of St. Agnes stands on the
right,
And its shadow falls on the picadors;
On their lean steeds they prance in the
ring,
Hidalgo-fashion, their hands on their
hips.
“Ha!
Toro! Toro!”
Hoh!
the horses are gored;
Now
for the men.
“Ha!
Toro! Toro!”
Every
man over the barrier!
Not so; for there the bull-fighter stands;
Some little applause from the royal box,
And “Montez! Montez!”
from a thousand throats!
The bull bows fine, though snorting with
rage,
His fore-leg makes little holes in the
ground;
But Montez stands still; his ribbons don’t
flutter!
Saints, what a
leap!
His rosette is on the bull’s black
horn;
Montez is pale; but his great eye shines
When Dolores cries—“Kisses
for Montez!”
Fie! Manuel’s
duchess!
A minute longer the fight is done,
The mule-bells tinkle, the bull rides
off;
Montez twirls a new diamond ring,
And Dolores goes home for chocolate.
ON THE CAMPAGNA.
Stop on the Appian Way,
In the Roman Campagna;
Stop at my tomb,
The tomb of Cecilia Metella.
To-day as you
see it,
Alaric saw it, ages ago,
When he, with his pale-visaged Goths,
Sat at the gates of Rome,
Reading his Runic shield.
Odin, thy curse remains!
Beneath these battlements
My bones were stirred with Roman pride,
Though centuries before my Romans died
Now my bones are dust; the Goths are dust.
The river-bed is dry where sleeps the
king,
My tomb remains!
When Rome commanded the earth
Great were the Metelli:
I was Metella’s wife;
I loved him—and
I died.
Then with slow patience built he this
memorial:
Each century marks his love.
Pass by on the Appian Way
The tomb of Cecilia Metella;
Wild shepherds alone seek its shelter,
Wild buffaloes tramp at its base.
Deep is its desolation,
Deep as the shadow of Rome!
THE QUEEN DEPOSED.
I was the queen of Karl, a northern king:
Amazon Olga, and I rode his
Ban,
A stallion in the royal ring
Who would not bear a man.
And in Ban’s saddle did I feel the
pains
For my first-born, the king’s
sole hope, his heir;
My Karl himself would loose the reins,
Would take me up the stair.
Low was the murmur of the royal troops
Below, I saw the tapers’
twinkling light;
I heard a cry—“My queen,
she droops!”
Then fell eternal night.