That in the dim forest
          Thou heard'st a low moaning,
    And found'st a bright lady, surpassingly fair:
    And didst bring her home with thee, in love and in charity,
    To shield her and shelter her from the damp air.'

    It was a lovely sight to see
    The lady Christabel, when she
    Was praying at the old oak tree.
        Amid the jagged shadows
        Of mossy leafless boughs,
        Kneeling in the moonlight,
        To make her gentle vows;
    Her slender palms together prest,
    Heaving sometimes on her breast;
    Her face resigned to bliss or bale-
    Her face, oh, call it fair not pale,
    And both blue eyes more bright than clear.
    Each about to have a tear.
    With open eyes (ah, woe is me!)
    Asleep, and dreaming fearfully,
    Fearfully dreaming, yet, I wis,
    Dreaming that alone, which is-
    O sorrow and shame! Can this be she,
    The lady, who knelt at the old oak tree?
    And lo! the worker of these harms,
    That holds the maiden in her arms,
    Seems to slumber still and mild,
    As a mother with her child.

    A star hath set, a star hath risen,
      O Geraldine! since arms of thine
    Have been the lovely lady's prison.
      O Geraldine! one hour was thine-
    Thou'st had thy will! By tarn and rill,
    The night-birds all that hour were still.
    But now they are jubilant anew,
    From cliff and tower, tu-whoo! tu-whoo!
    Tu-whoo! tu-whoo! from wood and fell!

    And see! the lady Christabel
    Gathers herself from out her trance;
    Her limbs relax, her countenance
    Grows sad and soft; the smooth thin lids
    Close o'er her eyes; and tears she sheds-
    Large tears that leave the lashes bright!
    And oft the while she seems to smile
    As infants at a sudden light!
    Yea, she doth smile, and she doth weep,
      Like a youthful hermitess,
      Beauteous in a wilderness,
    Who, praying always, prays in sleep.
    And, if she move unquietly,
    Perchance, 't is but the blood so free
    Comes back and tingles in her feet.
    No doubt, she hath a vision sweet.
    What if her guardian spirit 't were,
    What if she knew her mother near?
    But this she knows, in joys and woes,
    That saints will aid if men will call:
    For the blue sky bends over all.
                PART II

    Each matin bell, the Baron saith,
    Knells us back to a world of death.
    These words Sir Leoline first said,
    When he rose and found his lady dead:
    These words Sir Leoline will say
    Many a morn to his dying day!

    And hence the custom and law began
    That still at dawn the sacristan,
    Who duly pulls the heavy bell,
    Five and forty beads must tell
    Between each stroke- a warning knell,
    Which not a soul can choose but hear
    From Bratha Head to Wyndermere.
    Saith Bracy the bard, 'So let it knell!
    And let the drowsy sacristan
    Still count as slowly as he can!'
    There is no lack of such, I ween,
    As well fill up the space between.
    In Langdale Pike and Witch's Lair,
    And Dungeon-ghyll so foully rent,
    With ropes of rock and bells of air
    Three sinful sextons' ghosts are pent,
    Who all give back, one after t' other,
    The death-note to their living brother;
    And oft too, by the knell offended,
    Just as their one! two! three! is ended,
    The devil mocks the doleful tale
    With a merry peal from Borrowdale.

    The air is still! through mist and cloud
    That merry peal comes ringing loud;
    And Geraldine shakes off her dread,
    And rises lightly from the bed;
    Puts on her silken vestments white,
    And tricks her hair in lovely plight,
    And nothing doubting of her spell