[Footnote 6: The first two stanzas by Hood, the other two contributed
by Barry Cornwall at the request of Mrs. Hood, with a view to the poem
being set to music.]




THE WATER LADY.[7]

[Footnote 7: Suggested, according to Hood's son, by a water-color
drawing by Keats's friend Severn.]


Alas, the moon should ever beam
To show what man should never see!--
I saw a maiden on a stream,
And fair was she!

I staid awhile, to see her throw
Her tresses black, that all beset
The fair horizon of her brow
With clouds of jet.

I staid a little while to view
Her cheek, that wore in place of red
The bloom of water, tender blue,
Daintily spread.

I staid to watch, a little space,
Her parted lips if she would sing;