Edmund
Vale .
At the
Bridal
Steps
he waits
to
bear
his
love
in
Himself, a
round
prowed
galleon , white
as
drifted
snow ,
But no
reflection
swims
upon
the iris 'd margin ,
No shadow
falls
on
the
smooth
flood
below .
Down
the
thousand
steps when
the day was
sinking
Came
the
King's
White
Daughter, her
peacocks,
and
her
page,
And
before
them
moved
the
players of the
charméd
music
singing ,
Death
on
the
one
hand
and
on
the
other
Age .
On
the
last Bridal
step when
the moon
was
on
the
river
- Purple
dark ,
with
white
stars,
shining
through
above
The
Princess
took
her
gold
crown
and
cast it off
for
ever
,
Because
for her
gold
crown
she
had
slain
her love
.
Forth
from
the
thousand
steps
on
the
gleaming
water
,
Leaving
Death
and
Age
in
the Kingdom
of
Faerie
,
Sailed
the page
,
the
peacocks
,
and
the King
's
White
Daughter
,
Silent
through
the
wild
swans
asleep
upon
the
sea
.
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