Dry clashed his harness in the icy caves
And barren chasms, and all to left and right The bare black cliff clanged round him, as he based His feet on juts of slippery crag that rang Sharp-smitten with the dint of armèd heels- And on a sudden, lo! the level lake, And the long glories of the winter moon.
Then saw they how there hove a dusky barge, Dark as a funeral scarf from stem to stern, Beneath them; and descending they were ware That all the decks were dense with stately forms Black-stoled, black-hooded, like a dream-by these Three Queens with crowns of gold-and from them rose
A cry that shivered to the tingling stars, And, as it were one voice, an agony
Of lamentation, like a wind, that shrills
All night in a waste land, where no one comes, Or hath come, since the making of the world. Then murmured Arthur, "Place me in the barge," And to the barge they came. There those three Queens Put forth their hands, and took the King, and wept. But she, that rose the tallest of them all
And fairest, laid his head upon her lap,
And loosed the shattered casque, and chafed his hands, And called him by his name, complaining loud, And dropping bitter tears against his brow Striped with dark blood: for all his face was white And colorless, and like the withered moon Smote by the fresh beam of the springing east; And all his greaves and cuisses dashed with drops Of onset; and the light and lustrous curls-
That made his forehead like a rising sun
High from the dais-throne-were parched with dust;
Or, clotted into points and hanging loose, Mixed with the knightly growth that fringed his lips. So like a shattered column lay the King;
Not like that Arthur who with lance in rest, From spur to plume a star of tournament, Shot thro' the lists at Camelot, and charged Before the eyes of ladies and of kings.
Then loudly cried the bold Sir Bedivere, "Ah! my Lord Arthur, whither shall I go? Where shall I hide my forehead and my eyes? For now I see the true old times are dead, When every morning brought a noble chance, And every chance brought out a noble knight. Such times have been not since the light that led The holy Elders with the gift of myrrh. But now the whole Round Table is dissolved Which was an image of the mighty world; And I, the last, go forth companionless, And the days darken round me, and the years, Among new men, strange faces, other minds."
And slowly answered Arthur from the barge: "The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfills Himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me?
I have lived my life, and that which I have done May He within Himself make pure! but thou, If thou shouldst never see my face again,
Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheep or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend? For so the whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God. But now farewell. I am going a long way With these thou seest-if indeed I go- (For all my mind is clouded with a doubt) To the island-valley of Avilion;
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies Deep-meadowed, happy, fair with orchard-lawns And bowery hollows crowned with summer sea, Where I will heal me of my grievous wound."
So said he, and the barge with oar and sail Moved from the brink, like some full-breasted swan That, fluting a wild carol ere her death,
Ruffles her pure cold plume, and takes the flood With swarthy webs. Long stood Sir Bedivere Revolving many memories, till the hull
Looked one black dot against the verge of dawn, And on the mere the wailing died away.
LL thoughts, all passions, all delights, Whatever stirs this mortal frame,
All are but ministers of Love,
And feed his sacred flame.
Oft in my waking dreams do I
Live o'er again that happy hour, When midway on the mount I lay Beside the ruined tower.
The moonshine stealing o'er the scene Had blended with the lights of eve; And she was there, my hope, my joy, My own dear Genevieve!
She leaned against the armèd man, The statue of the armèd knight; She stood and listened to my lay, Amid the lingering light.
Few sorrows hath she of her own, My hope! my joy! my Genevieve! She loves me best whene'er I sing
The songs that make her grieve.
I played a soft and doleful air, I sang an old and moving story— An old rude song, that suited well That ruin wild and hoary.
She listened with a flitting blush,
With downcast eyes and modest grace; For well she knew I could not choose But gaze upon her face.
I told her of the Knight that wore Upon his shield a burning brand; And that for ten long years he wooed The Lady of the Land.
I told her how he pined; and ah!
The deep, the low, the pleading tone With which I sang another's love
Interpreted my own.
She listened with a flitting blush, With downcast eyes and modest grace; And she forgave me, that I gazed
Too fondly on her face.
But when I told the cruel scorn
That crazed that bold and lovely Knight, And that he crossed the mountain-woods, Nor rested day nor night;
That sometimes from the savage den,
And sometimes from the darksome shade, And sometimes starting up at once
In green and sunny glade
There came and looked him in the face An angel beautiful and bright; And that he knew it was a Fiend, This miserable Knight!
And that, unknowing what he did, He leaped amid a murderous band, And saved from outrage worse than death The Lady of the Land;
And how she wept, and clasped his knees; And how she tended him in vain;
And ever strove to expiate
The scorn that crazed his brain;
And that she nursed him in a cave, And how his madness went away, When on the yellow forest-leaves A dying man he lay;
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