Still now is the stithy this morning unclouded,Nought stirs in the thorp save the yellow-haired maidA-peeling the withy last Candlemas shroudedFrom the mere where the moorhen now swims unafraid.For over the Ford now the grass and the cloverFly off from the tines as the wind driveth on;And soon round the Sword-howe the swathe shall lie over,And tomorrow at even the mead shall be won.But the Hall of the Garden amidst the hot morning,It drew my feet thither; I stood at the door,And felt my heart harden 'gainst wisdom and warningAs the sun and my footsteps came on to the floor.When the sun lay behind me, there scarce in the dimnessI say what I sought for, yet trembled to find;But it came forth to find me, until the sleek slimnessOf the summer-clad woman made summer o'er kind.There we the once-sundered together were blended,We strangers, unknown once, were hidden by naught.I kissed and I wondered how doubt was all ended,How friendly her excellent fairness was wrought.Round the hall of the Garden the hot sun is burning,But no master nor minstrel goes there in the shade,It hath never a warden till comes the returning,When the moon shall hang high and all winds shall be laid.Waned the day and I hied me afield, and thereafterI sat with the mighty when daylight was done,But with great men beside me, midst high-hearted laughter,I deemed me of all men the gainfullest one.To wisdom I hearkened; for there the wise fatherCast the seed of his learning abroad o'er the hall,Till men's faces darkened, but mine gladdened ratherWith the thought of the knowledge I knew over all.Sang minstrels the story, and with the song's wellingMen looked on each other and glad were they grown,But mine was the glory of the tale and its tellingHow the loved and the lover were naught but mine own.