The Princess: Home they Brought her Warrior Dead

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Home they brought her warrior dead:
 She nor swoon'd nor utter'd cry:
All her maidens, watching, said,
 "She must weep or she will die."

Then they praised him, soft and low,
 Call'd him worthy to be loved,
Truest friend and noblest foe;
 Yet she neither spoke nor moved.

Stole a maiden from her place,
 Lightly to the warrior stepped,
Took the face-cloth from the face;
 Yet she neither moved nor wept.

Rose a nurse of ninety years,
 Set his child upon her knee—
Like summer tempest came her tears—
 "Sweet my child, I live for thee."

© Alfred Tennyson