Cambridge Poets 1900–1913

Edmund Vale . At the Bridal Steps he waits to bear his love in Himself, a round prowed galleon , white as drifted snow , But no reflection swims upon the iris 'd margin , No shadow falls on the smooth flood below . Down the thousand steps when the day was sinking Came the King's White Daughter, her peacocks, and her page, And before them moved the players of the charméd music singing , Death on the one hand and on the other Age . On the last Bridal step when the moon was on the river - Purple dark , with white stars, shining through above The Princess took her gold crown and cast it off for ever , Because for her gold crown she had slain her love . Forth from the thousand steps on the gleaming water , Leaving Death and Age in the Kingdom of Faerie , Sailed the page , the peacocks , and the King 's White Daughter , Silent through the wild swans asleep upon the sea . 203