NORMAN.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3136, 20 August 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

NORMAN.

[ A TALE OF TRUE LOVE. "They say you have travelled afar, kind sir, To places beyond the blue wave; To those sunny Innds Where the palm tree stands, Now ,-i favour of you I crave ?" " I have travelled, my lass, in those eastern climes, Where the scorchintr sunbeams fell With a blinding (jlare On tho desert bare, Now what would you have me tell?" " I would ask you of one who is dear to me, Who went over the surging main ; When my father's ship Made a distant trip, And be ne'er has been seen asain." " Is the question you ask of your love, my lass? Now what manner of man was he ?" " He waa tall and fair, With auburn hair, And brave as a man miirht be." " What took your love o'er the sea, my lass? What caused him thuH to roam 5" " Ho'h a sailor bold, Where the billows rolled He still would make his homo." " How long has your love boen gone, my las?, Since he parted last from you ?" At my sixteenth birthday He sailed away, And now I am twenty-two." " Has he sent you a message at all, my lass, To aay where he may be ?" "No j never a word Have I ever heard Since the day be went to sea." "Perchance ; he has taken another love, And forgot her he left behind, For one of a sort, In every port, A sailor is sure to find." "My Norman wan noble, and brave of heart, While his nature was kind and true, And he said on the day That he sailed away ' I will surely come back to you'; And often I steal from home To the harbour's side By the waters wide, To see if his ship has come." "Here is something that may tell of yonr lover's fate, * Say know you aught of this V " 'Tia a locket I gave To my Norman bravet And he gave to me a kiss." "Then your love has been wrecked on a distant sea, And they say who knew him best, Neath the billows deep, In a lasting sleep, He has gone to a sailor's rest." " Will you give me that locket again, kind sir, Will you give mo that locket again ? Now my heart will break For my Norman's sake, Yet that token would ease my pain." " I will give you myself my noble Blanche, For I am none bot he, I am none but your love, But I sought to prove If yet you remembered me." "lam bronzed and changed by Morocco's sun. Where I toiled its a galley slave; But I broke my chain, And to yon again I have come from over the wave. And now I'll make you my wedded wife, And as you have been true to me, From my own sweetheart I will never depart, But be faithful and kind to thee." J. H. (i. AnsAßOLni. Cambridge, July 2,1892.