I

The Princess sings:

  I am the princess up in the tower
   And I dream the whole day thro'
  Of a knight who shall come with a silver spear
   And a waving plume of blue.

  I am the princess up in the tower,
   And I dream my dreams by day,
  But sometimes I wake, and my eyes are wet,
   When the dusk is deep and gray.

  For the peasant lovers go by beneath,
   I hear them laugh and kiss,
  And I forget my day-dream knight,
   And long for a love like this.


  II

The Minstrel sings:

  I lie beside the princess' tower,
   So close she cannot see my face,
  And watch her dreaming all day long,
   And bending with a lily's grace.

  Her cheeks are paler than the moon
   That sails along a sunny sky,
  And yet her silent mouth is red
   Where tender words and kisses lie.

  I am a minstrel with a harp,
   For love of her my songs are sweet,
  And yet I dare not lift the voice
   That lies so far beneath her feet.


  III

The Knight sings:

  O princess cease your dreams awhile
   And look adown your tower's gray side --
  The princess gazes far away,
   Nor hears nor heeds the words I cried.

  Perchance my heart was overbold,
   God made her dreams too pure to break,
  She sees the angels in the air
   Fly to and fro for Mary's sake.

  Farewell, I mount and go my way,
   -- But oh her hair the sun sifts thro' --
  The tilts and tourneys wait my spear,
   I am the Knight of the Plume of Blue.