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64
MODERN BOHEMIAN POETRY
Karel Jaromír Erben (1811—1870).
THE WILLOW
In the morn he sat at meat;
Thus his youthful spouse did greet:
"Mistress mine, thou mistress dear,
Thou in all things wert sincere.
"Thou in all things wert sincere,—
One thing ne'er thou let'st me hear.
"We have now two years been wed,
Only one thing brings me dread.
"Mistress mine, O mistress blest,
With what slumber dost thou rest?
"In the evening fresh and bright,
Like a corpse thou art at night.
"Naught has sounded, naught has stirred,
Nor is trace of breathing heard.
"Filled with coldness is thy frame,
E'en as if to dust it came.
"Nor doth rouse that from thy sleeping
Our young child with bitter weeping.
