Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The poetical works of Alfred Tennyson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material is part of the Elmer Belt Florence Nightingale collection. The original may be consulted at University of California Libraries.
832/870 page 796
![Shrined him within the temple of her heart, Made every moment of her after life A virgin victim to his memory, And dying rose, and rear'd her arms, and cried ' I see him, lo t' amo, lo t' amo.' Miriam. Legend or true 1 so tender should be true ! Did he believe it ? did you ask him ? Father. Ay! But that half skeleton, like a barren ghost From out the fleshless world of spirits, laugh'd: A hollow laughter! Miriam. Vile, so near the ghost Himself, to laugh at love in death! But youl Father. Well, as the bygone lover thro' this ring Had sent his ciy for her forgiveness, I Would call thro' this lo t' amo to the heart Of Miriam ; then I bade the man engrave From Walter on the ring, and send it — wrote Name, surname, all as clear as noon, but he — Some yonuger hand must have engraven the ring — His fingers were so stifFen'd by the frost Of seven and ninety winters, that he scrawl'd A Miriam that might seem a Mu- riel ; And Muriel claim'd and open'd what I meaut For Miriam, took the ring, and flaunted it Before that oilier wlioiu I loved and love. A mnuntain stay'd me here, a minster til ere, A galleried ]Kilace, or a battlefield, Where stood the sheaf of I'eace : but — coming home — And on your Mother's birthday — all but yours — A week betwixt — and when the tower as now Was all ablaze with crimson to the roof, And all ablaze too plunging in the lake Head-foremost — who were those that stood between The tower and that rich phantom of the tower ? Muriel aud Miriam, each in white, and like May-blossoms in mid autumn — was it they 1 A light shot upward on them from the lake. What sparkled there ? whose hand was that ? they stood So close together. I am not keen of sight. But coming nearer — Muriel had the ring — O Miriam! have you given your ring to her ■? O Miriam! Miriam redden'd, Muriel clench'd The hand that wore it, till I cried again: O Miriam, if you love me take the ring!' She glanced at me, at Muriel, and was mute. Nay, if you cannot love me, let it be. Then — Muriel standing ever statue- like— She turn'd, and in her soft imperial way And saying gently: Muriel, by your leave, Unclosed the hand, and from it drew the ring, And gave it me, who pass'd it down her own, lo t' amo, all is well then. Muriel fled. Miriam. Poor Muriel ! Father. Ay, poor Muriel when you hear What follows! Miriam loved me from tiie first, Not thro' the ring; but on her marriage- morn This birthday, death-day, and betrothal ring, Laid on her table overnight, was gone ; And after hours of search aud doubt and threats. And hubbub, Muriel enter'd with it, See!— Found in a chink of that old moulder'd floor 1](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20452597_0832.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
