| A QUEEN was beloved by a jester, | |
| And once when the owls grew still | |
| He made his soul go upward | |
| And stand on her window sill. | |
| |
| In a long and straight blue garment, | 5 |
| It talked before morn was white, | |
| And it had grown wise by thinking | |
| Of a footfall hushed and light. | |
| |
| But the young queen would not listen; | |
| She rose in her pale nightgown, | 10 |
| She drew in the brightening casement | |
| And pushed the brass bolt down. | |
| |
| He bade his heart go to her, | |
| When the bats cried out no more, | |
| In a red and quivering garment | 15 |
| It sang to her through the door. | |
| |
| The tongue of it sweet with dreaming | |
| Of a flutter of flower-like hair, | |
| But she took up her fan from the table | |
| And waved it off on the air. | 20 |
| |
| 'I've cap and bells,' he pondered, | |
| 'I will send them to her and die.' | |
| And as soon as the morn had whitened | |
| He left them where she went by. | |
| |
| She laid them upon her bosom, | 25 |
| Under a cloud of her hair, | |
| And her red lips sang them a love song. | |
| The stars grew out of the air. | |
| |
| She opened her door and her window, | |
| And the heart and the soul came through, | 30 |
| To her right hand came the red one, | |
| To her left hand came the blue. | |
| |
| They set up a noise like crickets, | |
| A chattering wise and sweet, | |
| And her hair was a folded flower, | 35 |
| And the quiet of love her feet. | |
