"Elwy and Edgar". Original Poetry.1892

                              Image from:-The Land Sydney, NSW. Friday 26 January 1940

The Queenslander Brisbane, Qld

31^st December 1892

LITERARY

Original Poetry.

[WRITTEN FOR THE QUEENSLANDER.]

Elwy and Edgar.

A ROUNDELAY OF THE OLDEN TIME.

[Place: "The Holy Height"-a small hill in East Wales, supposed to be haunted, and where an old fortune teller lived, regarded by many as a Witch.)Time" New Year's Eve.

ELWY:-

Ancient Witch on the Holy Height.                                                   

Sitting so still by the haunted yew!

I would ask this solemn night,

Is my Edgar false or true?

Oh I the vows he hath sworn,

Both late and at morn,

All under the hawthorn shade!

Black as the raven's he called my hair.

Red my lips as the rose in June,

Blue my eyes as the rainbow rare,

Arching the by in a showery noon—

Oh the vows he hath sworn

Both late and at morn,

All under the hawthorn shade!

“True," he said, "is my faithful heart,

As God's own truth in the upper sky;

With thee, dear, I can never part

Love me, love, or I shall die "

Oh! the vows he hath sworn,

Both late and at morn,

All under the hawthorn shade!

Kind old Witch on the Holy Height,

Sitting so still by the haunted yew

I would ask this solemn night,

Is my Edgar false or true?

Oh the vows he hath sworn,

Both late and at morn,

All under the hawthorn shade

WITCH:-

Maiden, pride of thy father's hall

Edgar, I fear, is false to thee;

Yester eve, when the darksome pall

Of the night's shadows fell o'er the lea,

I heard vows sworn—

To my ears they were borne

From under the hawthorn shade.

Close by his side a maiden sat,

Sat, and murmured words so sweet

Oh! 'twas a softer voice than that,

Now beseeching me at my feet!

The deep vows sworn,

She did not scorn,

All under the hawthorn shade!

ELWY:-

Cruel Witch my life is o'er!

And poor Elwy will be seen

At the Holy Feast no more,

Nor upon the verdant green;

Some night or morn,

I'll die forlorn,

All under the hawthorn shade!

WITCH:-

(Throwing off her disguise and revealing Edgar.)

Darling! Let me clasp thee tight!

Elwy is to Edgar true

I took the place of the Witch to-night;

She is crooning behind the yew.

To thee the vows sworn,

Both late and at morn,

All under the hawthorn shade!

Darling! Thou shalt be my wife!

Edgar is to Elwy true;

Tested both, let us pass through life.

Pledged once more by the haunted yew!

BOTH:-

God bless the vows sworn,

At eve and at morn,

All under the hawthorn shade!

Brisbane A.C.S.