Una by Edmund Spenser

Una

A Gentle knight was pricking on the

plain,

Yclad in mighty arms and silver shield,

Wherein old dints of deep wounds did re-

main,

The cruel marks of many a bloody field;

Yet arms till that time did he never wield;

His angry steed did chide his foaming bit,

As much disdaining to the curb to yield:

Full jolly knight he seemed, and fair did sit,

As one for knightly jousts and fierce encounters

fit.

A lovely lady rode him fair beside,

Upon a lowly ass more white than snow ;

Yet she much whiter, but the same did hide

Under a veil that wimpled was full low,

And over all a black stole she did throw,

As one that inly mourned: so was she sad,

And heavy sat upon her palfrey slow ;

Seemed in heart some hidden care she had,

And by her in a line a milk-white lamb she

led.

So pure and innocent, as that same lamb,

She was in life and every virtuous lore,

And by descent from royal lineage came

Of ancient kings and queens, that had of yore

Their scepters stretcht from east to western

shore,

And all the world in their subjection held;

Till that infernal fiend with foul uproar

Forwasted all their land, and then expelled,

Whom to avenge, she had this knight from far

compelled.