I saw a maid with her chivalrous lover: <br />He was both tender and true; <br />He kissed her lips, vowing over and over, <br />'Darling, I worship you.' <br />Sing, sing, bird of the spring, <br />Tell of the flowers the summer will bring. <br /> <br /> <br />I saw the maiden, sweet, loving, confiding, <br />Smile when he whispered 'Mine,' <br />Saw her lips meet his with no word of chiding, <br />Though his breath fumed with wine. <br />Wail, wail, Nightingale, <br />Sing of a mourner bowed and pale. <br /> <br /> <br />I saw the lover and maid at the altar, <br />Bound by the bands divine; <br />Heard the responses-they fail not nor falter- <br />Saw the guests pledge in wine. <br />Howl, howl, ominous Owl, <br />Shriek of the terrible tempest's scowl. <br /> <br /> <br />I saw the drunkard's wife weeping in anguish, <br />Saw her struck down by a blow; <br />I saw the husband in prison-cells languish- <br />Thus ends the tale of woe. <br />Shriek, shriek, O Raven! speak <br />Of the terrible midnight, dark and bleak.<br /><br />Ella Wheeler Wilcox<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/what-i-have-seen-2/
