Sara Teasdale — The Princess in the Tower

I The Princess sings: I am the princess up in the tower   And I dream the whole day thro' Of a knight who shall come with a silver spear   And a waving plume of blue. I am the princess up in the tower,   And I dream my dreams by day, But sometimes I wake, and my eyes are wet,   When the dusk is deep and gray. For the peasant lovers go by beneath,   I hear them laugh and kiss, And I forget my day-dream knight,   And long for a love like this. II The Minstrel sings: I lie beside the princess' tower,   So close she cannot see my face, And watch her dreaming all day long,   And bending with a lily's grace. Her cheeks are paler than the moon   That sails along a sunny sky, And yet her silent mouth is red    Where tender words and kisses lie. I am a minstrel with a harp,   For love of her my songs are sweet, And yet I dare not lift the voice   That lies so far beneath her feet. III The Knight sings: O princess cease your dreams awhile   And look adown your tower's gray side— The princess gazes far away,   Nor hears nor heeds the words I cried. Perchance my heart was overbold,   God made her dreams too pure to break, She sees the angels in the air    Fly to and fro for Mary's sake. Farewell, I mount and go my way,    —But oh her hair the sun sifts thro'— The tilts and tourneys wait my spear,   I am the Knight of the Plume of Blue.