By Anonymous<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part I<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lovely Lady Christabel<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whom her father loves so well,<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was midnight within the wood<\/p>\n\n\n\n Far beyond where the old gate stood<\/p>\n\n\n\n She kneeled below the large oak tree<\/p>\n\n\n\n And in silence prayeth she.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her ringlet curls rested upon her head<\/p>\n\n\n\n As if she were fast asleep in bed<\/p>\n\n\n\n The wind was weak on this warm night<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lone red leaf danced with all its might<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sweet Christabel, why are you here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alone in this silent wood with no one near.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The far off bell doth toll<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel counted the time she hath stole<\/p>\n\n\n\n She rested her head within her fair hands<\/p>\n\n\n\n She still refused to stand<\/p>\n\n\n\n A noise close by doth make itself known<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel sensed she was not alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hush, beating heart of Christabel!<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you hear beyond this dell?<\/p>\n\n\n\n She folded her arms beneath her cloak,<\/p>\n\n\n\n And stole to the other side of the oak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There she saw a figure in white<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dressed in a robe that doth shined bright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, sweet Christabel do not draw near!<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this figure is still unclear!<\/p>\n\n\n\n A woman with her hair undone<\/p>\n\n\n\n Approached Christabel with gentle abandon<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gems gleamed from upon her head<\/p>\n\n\n\n Words still remained unsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her arms were long and bare<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel did not falter in her stare<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who art thou? Asked young Christabel<\/p>\n\n\n\n She grasped her chest as if under a spell<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lady strange made answer meet,<\/p>\n\n\n\n And her voice was faint and sweet:\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please take pity on me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n For I have faced horrors you should never see!<\/p>\n\n\n\n My name is Geraldine<\/p>\n\n\n\n And now I must describe this scene<\/p>\n\n\n\n Five warriors seized me yestermorn,<\/p>\n\n\n\n From my life, I was brutally torn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They took me away on their steeds of white<\/p>\n\n\n\n How I wish no one this plight!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was left alone within this wood<\/p>\n\n\n\n And found I\u2019d suffered all I could<\/p>\n\n\n\n I now plead with you dear maid<\/p>\n\n\n\n That you can provide me aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then Christabel stretched forth her hand,<\/p>\n\n\n\n To prove that she did indeed understand<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fair Geraldine I am Christabel<\/p>\n\n\n\n And your story you surly must tell<\/p>\n\n\n\n To my father who will send for your home<\/p>\n\n\n\n For you must no longer roam!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear Geraldine come away with me<\/p>\n\n\n\n Far from this wretched tree!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Geraldine took the sweet Christabel\u2019s hand When they reached the gate <\/p>\n\n\n\n Weak Geraldine doth sank<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Christabel with might and main<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lifted her up to relieve her pain<\/p>\n\n\n\n They crossed the threshold as a pair<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel handled Geraldine with care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How beautiful was she<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel could not help but see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once within the castle\u2019s walls<\/p>\n\n\n\n They passed through its many halls<\/p>\n\n\n\n When they reached Christabel\u2019s chamber door<\/p>\n\n\n\n They both stood upon the floor<\/p>\n\n\n\n The room was dim without the moon<\/p>\n\n\n\n But each hoped the sun would not rise soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n O weary lady, Geraldine,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please rest after all you have seen!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Take my bed or this chair<\/p>\n\n\n\n For you must treat yourself with much care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Geraldine doth smile upon the lovely Christabel<\/p>\n\n\n\n For her kind gesture made her once weak heart swell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How fortunate I am to have found you, fair maid<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spoke Geraldine as she gazed upon Christabel unafraid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel\u2019s heart doth quicken<\/p>\n\n\n\n For she found herself with Geraldine\u2019s beauty stricken<\/p>\n\n\n\n Geraldine\u2019s hair shone wildly beneath the room\u2019s faint light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was an ethereal sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel clutched her chest once more<\/p>\n\n\n\n For she felt she was under a spell quite like before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What power overtook sweet Christabel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Did it come with the sound of a far-off knell?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Did Geraldine put her in this trance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel doth looked askance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel, what doth plague thee?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asks Geraldine. What can I not see?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel looked up to meet her gaze<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her hand she did raise<\/p>\n\n\n\n She placed her hand upon Geraline\u2019s cheek<\/p>\n\n\n\n For she found she no longer felt meek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel understood <\/p>\n\n\n\n That what she felt within the wood<\/p>\n\n\n\n And what she felt within this room<\/p>\n\n\n\n Was not a spell or trance that foretold near doom<\/p>\n\n\n\n But something true and sweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Geraldine\u2019s lips did Christabel meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Geraldine closed her eyes<\/p>\n\n\n\n Feelings of love had begun to arise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sweet Geraldine, spoke Christabel<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wish to know you well<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us rest here for the night<\/p>\n\n\n\n And we shall leave when you have gained your might.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wish to be with you beyond these walls<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here my father rules these halls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He will not understand our bond<\/p>\n\n\n\n He will not understand why you to me are so fond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dearest Geraldine, I love you so!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of this, you must know!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fair Christabel, spoke Geraldine<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our love will remain evergreen!<\/p>\n\n\n\n For I love you beyond this plane<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without you, I will feel much pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pair gazed upon each other<\/p>\n\n\n\n They never wished to be parted from one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The moon was dim within their room<\/p>\n\n\n\n But their love was without a hint of gloom<\/p>\n\n\n\n They lay within Christabel\u2019s bed<\/p>\n\n\n\n They loved each other without any words said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How true this love doth be<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each maiden finally was free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Part II<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Come the morn the pair awoke<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel doth spoke<\/p>\n\n\n\n Loveliest Geraldine<\/p>\n\n\n\n With you heaven, I have seen<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before the sun preys us both<\/p>\n\n\n\n We must take this oath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dearest Geraldine, please swear<\/p>\n\n\n\n That this life we will share<\/p>\n\n\n\n Geraldine gazed upon her maiden sweet<\/p>\n\n\n\n And spoke when their eyes did meet<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel our love shall last forevermore<\/p>\n\n\n\n Far longer than any I have felt before<\/p>\n\n\n\n For you, I would face any feat<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any challenge I would surely meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now we must get away<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before the sun rises for the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel smiled as she listened to Geraldine<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this was the happiest she had ever been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pair walked through the dark halls<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moving quietly through the castle\u2019s sprawls<\/p>\n\n\n\n Passing the dreary niche with shield of Leoline <\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel shuttered from forces unseen<\/p>\n\n\n\n What haunts you, Christabel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is your father whom you love so well?<\/p>\n\n\n\n His presence crawled along the walls<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel was sure she heard his spectral image call<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dearest Geraldine whispered the maid<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am feeling most afraid<\/p>\n\n\n\n Geraldine with might and pride<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looked at Christabel and replied<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good maid Christabel forget your father and this place<\/p>\n\n\n\n And with our love, you will replace<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now tread lightly past Leoline\u2019s door<\/p>\n\n\n\n And we can start our life as we swore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They crept along the unlit path<\/p>\n\n\n\n Until they heard the mastiff\u2019s wrath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dog it shook the castle\u2019s fort<\/p>\n\n\n\n With its forceful call, it would soon rouse the court<\/p>\n\n\n\n The mastiff shouted with the hour<\/p>\n\n\n\n The clock chimed from the tower<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sweet Christabel, how could you forget?<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the sounds of the clock, your fate is set!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Geraldine, there is no time to waste, spoke Christabel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My father and the court will find us and our story I simply can\u2019t sell<\/p>\n\n\n\n As they spoke a door opened nearby<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sir Leoline appeared and Christabel let out a cry<\/p>\n\n\n\n My daughter, what are you doing at this hour? Spoke Leoline<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who is this woman? What is this scene?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Father, I am sorry to have awoken you<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am helping fair Geraldine who has seen horrors known to few<\/p>\n\n\n\n Geraldine lifted her head, her stately neck apparent<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leoline saw her beauty was inherent<\/p>\n\n\n\n How awful must it have been<\/p>\n\n\n\n For lovely Geraldine!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Great Baron Leoline<\/p>\n\n\n\n Excuse your daughter for this scene<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is I who disrupted these halls<\/p>\n\n\n\n You see I was harmed and no one heard my calls<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, fair Christabel she took me in<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please believe me she has not committed any sin<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leoline looked at Christabel<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whom he loved so well<\/p>\n\n\n\n He saw her face so deeply pained<\/p>\n\n\n\n And felt his heart much strained<\/p>\n\n\n\n He remembered his time before her mother<\/p>\n\n\n\n When he was indebted to another<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel, spoke Leoline<\/p>\n\n\n\n I understand your pain and will not intervene<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel\u2019s fair visage shifted<\/p>\n\n\n\n How her spirits had lifted!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Father, who do you speak of? Asked she<\/p>\n\n\n\n Long ago my child, with someone I had been<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leoline spoke with great pain<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this affair, he himself had slain<\/p>\n\n\n\n I did wrong by my dearest friend<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because I knew how our story would end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christabel crossed the hall <\/p>\n\n\n\n And to her father call<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh Father, how I love you so<\/p>\n\n\n\n But from this place, we must go<\/p>\n\n\n\n We cannot let our tale mimic your fate<\/p>\n\n\n\n For my love for Geraldine is great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please do not look ill upon my choice<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leoline spoke with a soft voice<\/p>\n\n\n\n His eyes fixed on his daughter dear<\/p>\n\n\n\n Go away from here<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do not return until the land<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can learn to understand<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is change on the horizon I wist<\/p>\n\n\n\n But until then you must persist<\/p>\n\n\n\n He drew his daughter close to him<\/p>\n\n\n\n For he knew that her future could be grim<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though Christabel\u2019s face so lovely and so bright<\/p>\n\n\n\n Assured him that everything would one day be right<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
They crossed a wide breadth of land<\/p>\n\n\n\n