Never feeling of unrest
  Broke the pleasant dream he dreamed;
Only made to be his nest,
  All the lovely valley seemed;
      No desire
      Of soaring higher
Stirred or fluttered in his breast.

True, his songs were not divine;
  Were not songs of that high art,
Which, as winds do in the pine,
  Find an answer in each heart;
      But the mirth
      Of this green earth
Laughed and revelled in his line.

From the alehouse and the inn,
  Opening on the narrow street,
Came the loud, convivial din,
  Singing and applause of feet,
      The laughing lays
      That in those days
Sang the poet Basselin.

In the castle, cased in steel,
  Knights, who fought at Agincourt,
Watched and waited, spur on heel;
  But the poet sang for sport
      Songs that rang
      Another clang,
Songs that lowlier hearts could feel.

In the convent, clad in gray,
  Sat the monks in lonely cells,
Paced the cloisters, knelt to pray,
  And the poet heard their bells;
      But his rhymes
      Found other chimes,
Nearer to the earth than they.

Gone are all the barons bold,
  Gone are all the knights and squires,
Gone the abbot stern and cold,
  And the brotherhood of friars;
      Not a name
      Remains to fame,
From those mouldering days of old!

But the poet’s memory here
  Of the landscape makes a part;
Like the river, swift and clear,
  Flows his song through many a heart;
      Haunting still
      That ancient mill,
In the Valley of the Vire.

VICTOR GALBRAITH

Under the walls of Monterey
At daybreak the bugles began to play,
      Victor Galbraith! 
In the mist of the morning damp and gray,
These were the words they seemed to say: 
      “Come forth to thy death,
      Victor Galbraith!”

Forth he came, with a martial tread;
Firm was his step, erect his head;
      Victor Galbraith,
He who so well the bugle played,
Could not mistake the words it said: 
      “Come forth to thy death,
      Victor Galbraith!”

He looked at the earth, he looked at the sky,
He looked at the files of musketry,
      Victor Galbraith! 
And he said, with a steady voice and eye,
“Take good aim; I am ready to die!”
      Thus challenges death
      Victor Galbraith.

Twelve fiery tongues flashed straight and red,
Six leaden balls on their errand sped;
      Victor Galbraith
Falls to the ground, but he is not dead;
His name was not stamped on those balls of lead,
      And they only scath
      Victor Galbraith.

Three balls are in his breast and brain,
But he rises out of the dust again,
      Victor Galbraith! 
The water he drinks has a bloody stain;
“O kill me, and put me out of my pain!”
      In his agony prayeth
      Victor Galbraith.