from The Princess: Home they Brought her Warrior Dead

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

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.”