[ { "title": "Sea Dreams", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "A city clerk, but gently born and bred;", "His wife, an unknown artist's orphan child--", "One babe was theirs, a Margaret, three years old:", "They, thinking that her clear germander eye", "Droopt in the giant-factoried city-gloom,", "Came, with a month's leave given them, to the sea:", "For which his gains were dock'd, however small:", "Small were his gains, and hard his work; besides,", "Their slender household fortunes (for the man", "Had risk'd his little) like the little thrift,", "Trembled in perilous places o'er a deep:", "And oft, when sitting all alone, his face", "Would darken, as he cursed his credulousness,", "And that one unctuous mount which lured him, rogue,", "To buy strange shares in some Peruvian mine.", "Now seaward-bound for health they gain'd a coast,", "All sand and cliff and deep-inrunning cave,", "At close of day; slept, woke, and went the next,", "The Sabbath, pious variers from the church,", "To chapel; where a heated pulpiteer,", "Not preaching simple Christ to simple men,", "Announced the coming doom, and fulminated", "Against the scarlet woman and her creed:", "For sideways up he swung his arms, and shriek'd", "`Thus, thus with violence,' ev'n as if he held", "The Apocalyptic millstone, and himself", "Were that great Angel; `Thus with violence", "Shall Babylon be cast into the sea;", "Then comes the close.' The gentle-hearted wife", "Sat shuddering at the ruin of a world;", "He at his own: but when the wordy storm", "Had ended, forth they came and paced the shore,", "Ran in and out the long sea-framing caves,", "Drank the large air, and saw, but scarce believed", "(The sootflake of so many a summer still", "Clung to their fancies) that they saw, the sea.", "So now on sand they walk'd, and now on cliff,", "Lingering about the thymy promontories,", "Till all the sails were darken'd in the west,", "And rosed in the east: then homeward and to bed:", "Where she, who kept a tender Christian hope", "Haunting a holy text, and still to that", "Returning, as the bird returns, at night,", "`Let not the sun go down upon your wrath,'", "Said, `Love, forgive him:' but he did not speak;", "And silenced by that silence lay the wife,", "Remembering her dear Lord who died for all,", "And musing on the little lives of men,", "And how they mar this little by their feuds.", "", "But while the two were sleeping, a full tide", "Rose with ground-swell, which, on the foremost rocks", "Touching, upjetted in spirts of wild sea-smoke,", "And scaled in sheets of wasteful foam, and fell", "In vast sea-cataracts--ever and anon", "Dead claps of thunder from within the cliffs", "Heard thro' the living roar. At this the babe,", "Their Margaret cradled near them, wail'd and woke", "The mother, and the father suddenly cried,", "`A wreck, a wreck!' then turn'd, and groaning said,", "", "`Forgive! How many will say, \"forgive,\" and find", "A sort of absolution in the sound", "To hate a little longer! No; the sin", "That neither God nor man can well forgive,", "Hypocrisy, I saw it in him at once.", "Is it so true that second thoughts are best?", "Not first, and third, which are a riper first?", "Too ripe, too late! they come too late for use.", "Ah love, there surely lives in man and beast", "Something divine to warn them of their foes:", "And such a sense, when first I fronted him,", "Said, \"trust him not;\" but after, when I came", "To know him more, I lost it, knew him less;", "Fought with what seem'd my own uncharity;", "Sat at his table; drank his costly wines;", "Made more and more allowance for his talk;", "Went further, fool! and trusted him with all,", "All my poor scrapings from a dozen years", "Of dust and deskwork: there is no such mine,", "None; but a gulf of ruin, swallowing gold,", "Not making. Ruin'd! ruin'd! the sea roars", "Ruin: a fearful night!'", "", "`Not fearful; fair,'", "Said the good wife, `if every star in heaven", "Can make it fair: you do but bear the tide.", "Had you ill dreams?'", "", "`O yes,' he said, `I dream'd", "Of such a tide swelling toward the land,", "And I from out the boundless outer deep", "Swept with it to the shore, and enter'd one", "Of those dark caves that run beneath the cliffs.", "I thought the motion of the boundless deep", "Bore through the cave, and I was heaved upon it", "In darkness: then I saw one lovely star", "Larger and larger. \"What a world,\" I thought,", "\"To live in!\" but in moving I found", "Only the landward exit of the cave,", "Bright with the sun upon the stream beyond:", "And near the light a giant woman sat,", "All over earthy, like a piece of earth,", "A pickaxe in her hand: then out I slipt", "Into a land all of sun and blossom, trees", "As high as heaven, and every bird that sings:", "And here the night-light flickering in my eyes", "Awoke me.'", "", "`That was then your dream,' she said,", "`Not sad, but sweet.'", "", "`So sweet, I lay,' said he,", "`And mused upon it, drifting up the stream", "In fancy, till I slept again, and pieced", "The broken vision; for I dream'd that still", "The motion of the great deep bore me on,", "And that the woman walk'd upon the brink:", "I wonder'd at her strength, and ask'd her of it:", "\"It came,\" she said, \"by working in the mines:\"", "O then to ask her of my shares, I thought;", "And ask'd; but not a word; she shook her head.", "And then the motion of the current ceased,", "And there was rolling thunder; and we reach'd", "A mountain, like a wall of burs and thorns;", "But she with her strong feet up the steep hill", "Trod out a path: I follow'd; and at top", "She pointed seaward: there a fleet of glass,", "That seem'd a fleet of jewels under me,", "Sailing along before a gloomy cloud", "That not one moment ceased to thunder, past", "In sunshine: right across its track there lay,", "Down in the water, a long reef of gold,", "Or what seem'd gold: and I was glad at first", "To think that in our often-ransack'd world", "Still so much gold was left; and then I fear'd", "Lest the gay navy there should splinter on it,", "And fearing waved my arm to warn them off;", "An idle signal, for the brittle fleet", "(I thought I could have died to save it) near'd,", "Touch'd, clink'd, and clash'd, and vanish'd, and I woke,", "I heard the clash so clearly. Now I see", "My dream was Life; the woman honest Work;", "And my poor venture but a fleet of glass", "Wreck'd on a reef of visionary gold.'", "", "`Nay,' said the kindly wife to comfort him,", "`You raised your arm, you tumbled down and broke", "The glass with little Margaret's medicine it it;", "And, breaking that, you made and broke your dream:", "A trifle makes a dream, a trifle breaks.'", "", "`No trifle,' groan'd the husband; `yesterday", "I met him suddenly in the street, and ask'd", "That which I ask'd the woman in my dream.", "Like her, he shook his head. \"Show me the books!\"", "He dodged me with a long and loose account.", "\"The books, the books!\" but he, he could not wait,", "Bound on a matter he of life and death:", "When the great Books (see Daniel seven and ten)", "Were open'd, I should find he meant me well;", "And then began to bloat himself, and ooze", "All over with the fat affectionate smile", "That makes the widow lean. \"My dearest friend,", "Have faith, have faith! We live by faith,\" said he;", "\"And all things work together for the good", "Of those\"--it makes me sick to quote him--last", "Gript my hand hard, and with God-bless-you went.", "I stood like one that had received a blow:", "I found a hard friend in his loose accounts,", "A loose one in the hard grip of his hand,", "A curse in his God-bless-you: then my eyes", "Pursued him down the street, and far away,", "Among the honest shoulders of the crowd,", "Read rascal in the motions of his back,", "And scoundrel in the supple-sliding knee.'", "", "`Was he so bound, poor soul?' said the good wife;", "`So are we all: but do not call him, love,", "Before you prove him, rogue, and proved, forgive.", "His gain is loss; for he that wrongs his friend", "Wrongs himself more, and ever bears about", "A silent court of justice in his breast,", "Himself the judge and jury, and himself", "The prisoner at the bar, ever condemn'd:", "And that drags down his life: then comes what comes", "Hereafter: and he meant, he said he meant,", "Perhaps he meant, or partly meant, you well.'", "", "` \"With all his conscience and one eye askew\"--", "Love, let me quote these lines, that you may learn", "A man is likewise counsel for himself,", "Too often, in that silent court of yours--", "\"With all his conscience and one eye askew,", "So false, he partly took himself for true;", "Whose pious talk, when most his heart was dry,", "Made wet the crafty crowsfoot round his eye;", "Who, never naming God except for gain,", "So never took that useful name in vain;", "Made Him his catspaw and the Cross his tool,", "And Christ the bait to trap his dupe and fool;", "Nor deeds of gift, but gifts of grace he forged,", "And snakelike slimed his victim ere he gorged;", "And oft at Bible meetings, o'er the rest", "Arising, did his holy oily best,", "Dropping the too rough H in Hell and Heaven,", "To spread the Word by which himself had thriven.\"", "How like you this old satire?'", "", "`Nay,' she said", "`I loathe it: he had never kindly heart,", "Nor ever cared to better his own kind,", "Who first wrote satire, with no pity in it.", "But will you hear MY dream, for I had one", "That altogether went to music? Still", "It awed me.'", "", "Then she told it, having dream'd", "Of that same coast.", "", "--But round the North, a light,", "A belt, it seem'd, of luminous vapor, lay,", "And ever in it a low musical note", "Swell'd up and died; and, as it swell'd, a ridge", "Of breaker issued from the belt, and still", "Grew with the growing note, and when the note", "Had reach'd a thunderous fullness, on those cliffs", "Broke, mixt with awful light (the same as that", "Living within the belt) whereby she saw", "That all those lines of cliffs were cliffs no more,", "But huge cathedral fronts of every age,", "Grave, florid, stern, as far as eye could see.", "One after one: and then the great ridge drew,", "Lessening to the lessening music, back,", "And past into the belt and swell'd again", "Slowly to music: ever when it broke", "The statues, king or saint, or founder fell;", "Then from the gaps and chasms of ruin left", "Came men and women in dark clusters round,", "Some crying, \"Set them up! they shall not fall!\"", "And others \"Let them lie, for they have fall'n.\"", "And still they strove and wrangled: and she grieved", "In her strange dream, she knew not why, to find", "Their wildest wailings never out of tune", "With that sweet note; and ever as their shrieks", "Ran highest up the gamut, that great wave", "Returning, while none mark'd it, on the crowd", "Broke, mixt with awful light, and show'd their eyes", "Glaring, and passionate looks, and swept away", "The men of flesh and blood, and men of stone,", "To the waste deeps together.", "", "`Then I fixt", "My wistful eyes on two fair images,", "Both crown'd with stars and high among the stars,--", "The Virgin Mother standing with her child", "High up on one of those dark minster-fronts--", "Till she began to totter, and the child", "Clung to the mother, and sent out a cry", "Which mixt with little Margaret's, and I woke,", "And my dream awed me:--well--but what are dreams?", "Yours came but from the breaking of a glass,", "And mine but from the crying of a child.'", "", "`Child? No!' said he, `but this tide's roar, and his,", "Our Boanerges with his threats of doom,", "And loud-lung'd Antibabylonianisms", "(Altho' I grant but little music there)", "Went both to make your dream: but if there were", "A music harmonizing our wild cries,", "Sphere-music such as that you dream'd about,", "Why, that would make our passions far too like", "The discords dear to the musician. No--", "One shriek of hate would jar all the hymns of heaven:", "True Devils with no ear, they howl in tune", "With nothing but the Devil!'", "", "`\"True\" indeed!", "One of our town, but later by an hour", "Here than ourselves, spoke with me on the shore;", "While you were running down the sands, and made", "The dimpled flounce of the sea-furbelow flap,", "Good man, to please the child. She brought strange news.", "Why were you silent when I spoke to-night?", "I had set my heart on your forgiving him", "Before you knew. We MUST forgive the dead.'", "", "`Dead! who is dead?'", "", "`The man your eye pursued.", "A little after you had parted with him,", "He suddenly dropt dead of heart-disease.'", "", "`Dead? he? of heart-disease? what heart had he", "To die of? dead!'", "", "`Ah, dearest, if there be", "A devil in man, there is an angel too,", "And if he did that wrong you charge him with,", "His angel broke his heart. But your rough voice", "(You spoke so loud) has roused the child again.", "Sleep, little birdie, sleep! will she not sleep", "Without her \"little birdie?\" well then, sleep,", "And I will sing you \"birdie.\"'", "", "Saying this,", "The woman half turn'd round from him she loved,", "Left him one hand, and reaching thro' the night", "Her other, found (for it was close beside)", "And half embraced the basket cradle-head", "With one soft arm, which, like the pliant bough", "That moving moves the nest and nestling, sway'd", "The cradle, while she sang this baby song.", "", "What does the little birdie say", "In her nest at peep of day?", "Let me fly, says little birdie,", "Mother, let me fly away.", "Birdie, rest a little longer,", "Till the little wings are stronger.", "So she rests a little longer,", "Then she flies away.", "", "What does little baby say,", "In her bed at peep of day?", "Baby says, like little birdie,", "Let me rise and fly away.", "Baby, sleep a little longer,", "Till the little limbs are stronger.", "If she sleeps a little longer,", "Baby too shall fly away.", "", "`She sleeps: let us too, let all evil, sleep.", "He also sleeps--another sleep than ours.", "He can do no more wrong: forgive him, dear,", "And I shall sleep the sounder!'", "", "Then the man,", "`His deeds yet live, the worst is yet to come.", "Yet let your sleep for this one night be sound:", "I do forgive him!'", "", "`Thanks, my love,' she said,", "`Your own will be the sweeter,' and they slept." ], "linecount": "318" }, { "title": "The Grandmother", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "I.", "And Willy, my eldest-born, is gone, you say, little Anne?", "Ruddy and white, and strong on his legs, he looks like a man.", "And Willy's wife has written: she never was over-wise,", "Never the wife for Willy: he would n't take my advice.", "", "II.", "For, Annie, you see, her father was not the man to save,", "Had n't a head to manage, and drank himself into his grave.", "Pretty enough, very pretty! but I was against it for one.", "Eh!--but he would n't hear me--and Willy, you say, is gone.", "", "III.", "Willy, my beauty, my eldest-born, the flower of the flock;", "Never a man could fling him: for Willy stood like a rock.", "`Here's a leg for a babe of a week!' says doctor; and he would be bound,", "There was not his like that year in twenty parishes round.", "", "IV.", "Strong of his hands, and strong on his legs, but still of his tongue!", "I ought to have gone before him: I wonder he went so young.", "I cannot cry for him, Annie: I have not long to stay;", "Perhaps I shall see him the sooner, for he lived far away.", "", "V.", "Why do you look at me, Annie? you think I am hard and cold;", "But all my children have gone before me, I am so old:", "I cannot weep for Willy, nor can I weep for the rest;", "Only at your age, Annie, I could have wept with the best.", "", "VI.", "For I remember a quarrel I had with your father, my dear,", "All for a slanderous story, that cost me many a tear.", "I mean your grandfather, Annie: it cost me a world of woe,", "Seventy years ago, my darling, seventy years ago.", "", "VII.", "For Jenny, my cousin, had come to the place, and I knew right well", "That Jenny had tript in her time: I knew, but I would not tell.", "And she to be coming and slandering me, the base little liar!", "But the tongue is a fire as you know, my dear, the tongue is a fire.", "", "VIII.", "And the parson made it his text that week, and he said likewise,", "That a lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies,", "That a lie which is all a lie may be met and fought with outright,", "But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter to fight.", "", "IX.", "And Willy had not been down to the farm for a week and a day;", "And all things look'd half-dead, tho' it was the middle of May.", "Jenny, to slander me, who knew what Jenny had been!", "But soiling another, Annie, will never make oneself clean.", "", "X.", "And I cried myself well-nigh blind, and all of an evening late", "I climb'd to the top of the garth, and stood by the road at the gate.", "The moon like a rick on fire was rising over the dale,", "And whit, whit, whit, in the bush beside me chirrupt the nightingale.", "", "XI.", "All of a sudden he stopt: there past by the gate of the farm,", "Willy,--he did n't see me,--and Jenny hung on his arm.", "Out into the road I started, and spoke I scarce knew how;", "Ah, there's no fool like the old one -- it makes me angry now.", "", "XII.", "Willy stood up like a man, and look'd the thing that he meant;", "Jenny, the viper, made me a mocking courtesy and went.", "And I said, `Let us part: in a hundred years it'll all be the same,", "You cannot love me at all, if you love not my good name.'", "", "XIII.", "And he turn'd, and I saw his eyes all wet, in the sweet moonshine:", "Sweetheart, I love you so well that your good name is mine.", "And what do I care for Jane, let her speak of you well of ill;", "But marry me out of hand: we two shall be happy still.'", "", "XIV.", "`Marry you, Willy!' said I, `but I needs must speak my mind,", "And I fear you'll listen to tales, be jealous and hard and unkind.'", "But he turn'd and claspt me in his arms, and answer'd, `No, love, no;'", "Seventy years ago, my darling, seventy years ago.", "", "XV.", "So Willy and I were wedded: I wore a lilac gown;", "And the ringers rang with a will, and he gave the ringers a crown.", "But the first that ever I bare was dead before he was born,", "Shadow and shine is life, little Annie, flower and thorn.", "", "XVI.", "That was the first time, too, that ever I thought of death.", "There lay the sweet little body that never had drawn a breath.", "I had not wept, little Anne, not since I had been a wife;", "But I wept like a child that day, for the babe had fought for his life.", "", "XVII.", "His dear little face was troubled, as if with anger or pain:", "I look'd at the still little body--his trouble had all been in vain.", "For Willy I cannot weep, I shall see him another morn:", "But I wept like a child for the child that was dead before he was born.", "", "XVIII.", "But he cheer'd me, my good man, for he seldom said me nay:", "Kind, like a man, was he; like a man, too, would have his way:", "Never jealous--not he: we had many a happy year;", "And he died, and I could not weep--my own time seem'd so near.", "", "XIX.", "But I wish'd it had been God's will that I, too, then could have died:", "I began to be tired a little, and fain had slept at his side.", "And that was ten years back, or more, if I don't forget:", "But as to the children, Annie, they're all about me yet.", "", "XX.", "Pattering over the boards, my Annie who left me at two,", "Patter she goes, my own little Annie, an Annie like you:", "Pattering over the boards, she comes and goes at her will,", "While Harry is in the five-acre and Charlie ploughing the hill.", "", "XXI.", "And Harry and Charlie, I hear them too--they sing to their team:", "Often they come to the door in a pleasant kind of a dream.", "They come and sit by my chair, they hover about my bed--", "I am not always certain if they be alive or dead.", "", "XXII.", "And yet I know for a truth, there's none of them left alive;", "For Harry went at sixty, your father at sixty- five:", "And Willy, my eldest born, at nigh threescore and ten;", "I knew them all as babies, and now they're elderly men.", "", "XXIII.", "For mine is a time of peace, it is not often I grieve;", "I am oftener sitting at home in my father's farm at eve:", "And the neighbors come and laugh and gossip, and so do I;", "I find myself often laughing at things that have long gone by.", "", "XXIV.", "To be sure the preacher says, our sins should make us sad:", "But mine is a time of peace, and there is Grace to be had;", "And God, not man, is the Judge of us all when life shall cease;", "And in this Book, little Annie, the message is one of Peace.", "", "XXV.", "And age is a time of peace, so it be free from pain,", "And happy has been my life; but I would not live it again.", "I seem to be tired a little, that's all, and long for rest;", "Only at your age, Annie, I could have wept with the best.", "", "XXVI.", "So Willy has gone, my beauty, my eldest-born, my flower;", "But how can I weep for Willy, he has but gone for an hour,--", "Gone for a minute, my son, from this room into the next;", "I, too, shall go in a minute. What time have I to be vext?", "", "XXVII.", "And Willy's wife has written, she never was over-wise.", "Get me my glasses, Annie: thank God that I keep my eyes.", "There is but a trifle left you, when I shall have past away.", "But stay with the old woman now: you cannot have long to stay." ], "linecount": "135" }, { "title": "In Memoriam A. H. H.: 7. Dark house, by which once more I s", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Dark house, by which once more I stand", "Here in the long unlovely street,", "Doors, where my heart was used to beat", "So quickly, waiting for a hand,", "A hand that can be clasp'd no more--", "Behold me, for I cannot sleep,", "And like a guilty thing I creep", "At earliest morning to the door.", "He is not here; but far away", "The noise of life begins again,", "And ghastly thro' the drizzling rain", "On the bald street breaks the blank day." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Enoch Arden", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Long lines of cliff breaking have left a chasm;", "And in the chasm are foam and yellow sands;", "Beyond, red roofs about a narrow wharf", "In cluster; then a moulder'd church; and higher", "A long street climbs to one tall-tower'd mill;", "And high in heaven behind it a gray down", "With Danish barrows; and a hazelwood,", "By autumn nutters haunted, flourishes", "Green in a cuplike hollow of the down.", "", "Here on this beach a hundred years ago,", "Three children of three houses, Annie Lee,", "The prettiest little damsel in the port,", "And Philip Ray the miller's only son,", "And Enoch Arden, a rough sailor's lad", "Made orphan by a winter shipwreck, play'd", "Among the waste and lumber of the shore,", "Hard coils of cordage, swarthy fishing-nets,", "Anchors of rusty fluke, and boats updrawn,", "And built their castles of dissolving sand", "To watch them overflow'd, or following up", "And flying the white breaker, daily left", "The little footprint daily wash'd away.", "", "A narrow cave ran in beneath the cliff:", "In this the children play'd at keeping house.", "Enoch was host one day, Philip the next,", "While Annie still was mistress; but at times", "Enoch would hold possession for a week:", "`This is my house and this my little wife.'", "`Mine too' said Philip `turn and turn about:'", "When, if they quarrell'd, Enoch stronger-made", "Was master: then would Philip, his blue eyes", "All flooded with the helpless wrath of tears,", "Shriek out `I hate you, Enoch,' and at this", "The little wife would weep for company,", "And pray them not to quarrel for her sake,", "And say she would be little wife to both.", "", "But when the dawn of rosy childhood past,", "And the new warmth of life's ascending sun", "Was felt by either, either fixt his heart", "On that one girl; and Enoch spoke his love,", "But Philip loved in silence; and the girl", "Seem'd kinder unto Philip than to him;", "But she loved Enoch; tho' she knew it not,", "And would if ask'd deny it. Enoch set", "A purpose evermore before his eyes,", "To hoard all savings to the uttermost,", "To purchase his own boat, and make a home", "For Annie: and so prosper'd that at last", "A luckier or a bolder fisherman,", "A carefuller in peril, did not breathe", "For leagues along that breaker-beaten coast", "Than Enoch. Likewise had he served a year", "On board a merchantman, and made himself", "Full sailor; and he thrice had pluck'd a life", "From the dread sweep of the down-streaming seas:", "And all me look'd upon him favorably:", "And ere he touch'd his one-and-twentieth May", "He purchased his own boat, and made a home", "For Annie, neat and nestlike, halfway up", "The narrow street that clamber'd toward the mill.", "", "Then, on a golden autumn eventide,", "The younger people making holiday,", "With bag and sack and basket, great and small,", "Went nutting to the hazels. Philip stay'd", "(His father lying sick and needing him)", "An hour behind; but as he climb'd the hill,", "Just where the prone edge of the wood began", "To feather toward the hollow, saw the pair,", "Enoch and Annie, sitting hand-in-hand,", "His large gray eyes and weather-beaten face", "All-kindled by a still and sacred fire,", "That burn'd as on an altar. Philip look'd,", "And in their eyes and faces read his doom;", "Then, as their faces drew together, groan'd,", "And slipt aside, and like a wounded life", "Crept down into the hollows of the wood;", "There, while the rest were loud in merrymaking,", "Had his dark hour unseen, and rose and past", "Bearing a lifelong hunger in his heart.", "", "So these were wed, and merrily rang the bells,", "And merrily ran the years, seven happy years,", "Seven happy years of health and competence,", "And mutual love and honorable toil;", "With children; first a daughter. In him woke,", "With his first babe's first cry, the noble wish", "To save all earnings to the uttermost,", "And give his child a better bringing-up", "Than his had been, or hers; a wish renew'd,", "When two years after came a boy to be", "The rosy idol of her solitudes,", "While Enoch was abroad on wrathful seas,", "Or often journeying landward; for in truth", "Enoch's white horse, and Enoch's ocean-spoil", "In ocean-smelling osier, and his face,", "Rough-redden'd with a thousand winter gales,", "Not only to the market-cross were known,", "But in the leafy lanes behind the down,", "Far as the portal-warding lion-whelp,", "And peacock-yewtree of the lonely Hall,", "Whose Friday fare was Enoch's ministering.", "", "Then came a change, as all things human change.", "Ten miles to northward of the narrow port", "Open'd a larger haven: thither used", "Enoch at times to go by land or sea;", "And once when there, and clambering on a mast", "In harbor, by mischance he slipt and fell:", "A limb was broken when they lifted him;", "And while he lay recovering there, his wife", "Bore him another son, a sickly one:", "Another hand crept too across his trade", "Taking her bread and theirs: and on him fell,", "Altho' a grave and staid God-fearing man,", "Yet lying thus inactive, doubt and gloom.", "He seem'd, as in a nightmare of the night,", "To see his children leading evermore", "Low miserable lives of hand-to-mouth,", "And her, he loved, a beggar: then he pray'd", "`Save them from this, whatever comes to me.'", "And while he pray'd, the master of that ship", "Enoch had served in, hearing his mischance,", "Came, for he knew the man and valued him,", "Reporting of his vessel China-bound,", "And wanting yet a boatswain. Would he go?", "There yet were many weeks before she sail'd,", "Sail'd from this port. Would Enoch have the place?", "And Enoch all at once assented to it,", "Rejoicing at that answer to his prayer.", "", "So now that the shadow of mischance appear'd", "No graver than as when some little cloud", "Cuts off the fiery highway of the sun,", "And isles a light in the offing: yet the wife--", "When he was gone--the children--what to do?", "Then Enoch lay long-pondering on his plans;", "To sell the boat--and yet he loved her well--", "How many a rough sea had he weather'd in her!", "He knew her, as a horseman knows his horse--", "And yet to sell her--then with what she brought", "Buy goods and stores--set Annie forth in trade", "With all that seamen needed or their wives--", "So might she keep the house while he was gone.", "Should he not trade himself out yonder? go", "This voyage more than once? yea twice or thrice--", "As oft as needed--last, returning rich,", "Become the master of a larger craft,", "With fuller profits lead an easier life,", "Have all his pretty young ones educated,", "And pass his days in peace among his own.", "", "Thus Enoch in his heart determined all:", "Then moving homeward came on Annie pale,", "Nursing the sickly babe, her latest-born.", "Forward she started with a happy cry,", "And laid the feeble infant in his arms;", "Whom Enoch took, and handled all his limbs,", "Appraised his weight and fondled fatherlike,", "But had no heart to break his purposes", "To Annie, till the morrow, when he spoke.", "", "Then first since Enoch's golden ring had girt", "Her finger, Annie fought against his will:", "Yet not with brawling opposition she,", "But manifold entreaties, many a tear,", "Many a sad kiss by day and night renew'd", "(Sure that all evil would come out of it)", "Besought him, supplicating, if he cared", "For here or his dear children, not to go.", "He not for his own self caring but her,", "Her and her children, let her plead in vain;", "So grieving held his will, and bore it thro'.", "", "For Enoch parted with his old sea-friend,", "Bought Annie goods and stores, and set his hand", "To fit their little streetward sitting-room", "With shelf and corner for the goods and stores.", "So all day long till Enoch's last at home,", "Shaking their pretty cabin, hammer and axe,", "Auger and saw, while Annie seem'd to hear", "Her own death-scaffold raising, shrill'd and rang,", "Till this was ended, and his careful hand,--", "The space was narrow,--having order'd all", "Almost as neat and close as Nature packs", "Her blossom or her seedling, paused; and he,", "Who needs would work for Annie to the last,", "Ascending tired, heavily slept till morn.", "", "And Enoch faced this morning of farewell", "Brightly and boldly. All his Annie's fears,", "Save, as his Annie's, were a laughter to him.", "Yet Enoch as a brave God-fearing man", "Bow'd himself down, and in that mystery", "Where God-in-man is one with man-in-God,", "Pray'd for a blessing on his wife and babes", "Whatever came to him: and then he said", "`Annie, this voyage by the grace of God", "Will bring fair weather yet to all of us.", "Keep a clean hearth and a clear fire for me,", "For I'll be back, my girl, before you know it.'", "Then lightly rocking baby's cradle `and he,", "This pretty, puny, weakly little one,--", "Nay--for I love him all the better for it--", "God bless him, he shall sit upon my knees", "And I will tell him tales of foreign parts,", "And make him merry, when I come home again.", "Come Annie, come, cheer up before I go.'", "", "Him running on thus hopefully she heard,", "And almost hoped herself; but when he turn'd", "The current of his talk to graver things", "In sailor fashion roughly sermonizing", "On providence and trust in Heaven, she heard,", "Heard and not heard him; as the village girl,", "Who sets her pitcher underneath the spring,", "Musing on him that used to fill it for her,", "Hears and not hears, and lets it overflow.", "", "At length she spoke `O Enoch, you are wise;", "And yet for all your wisdom well know I", "That I shall look upon your face no more.'", "", "`Well then,' said Enoch, `I shall look on yours.", "Annie, the ship I sail in passes here", "(He named the day) get you a seaman's glass,", "Spy out my face, and laugh at all your fears.'", "", "But when the last of those last moments came,", "`Annie my girl, cheer up, be comforted,", "Look to the babes, and till I come again,", "Keep everything shipshape, for I must go.", "And fear no more for me; or if you fear", "Cast all your cares on God; that anchor holds.", "Is He not yonder in those uttermost", "Parts of the morning? if I flee to these", "Can I go from Him? and the sea is His,", "The sea is His: He made it.'", "", "Enoch rose,", "Cast his strong arms about his drooping wife,", "And kiss'd his wonder-stricken little ones;", "But for the third, sickly one, who slept", "After a night of feverous wakefulness,", "When Annie would have raised him Enoch said", "`Wake him not; let him sleep; how should this child", "Remember this?' and kiss'ed him in his cot.", "But Annie from her baby's forehead clipt", "A tiny curl, and gave it: this he kept", "Thro' all his future; but now hastily caught", "His bundle, waved his hand, and went his way.", "", "She when the day, that Enoch mention'd, came,", "Borrow'd a glass, but all in vain: perhaps", "She could not fix the glass to suit her eye;", "Perhaps her eye was dim, hand tremulous;", "She saw him not: and while he stood on deck", "Waving, the moment and the vessel past.", "", "Ev'n to the last dip of the vanishing sail", "She watch'd it, and departed weeping for him;", "Then, tho' she mourn'd his absence as his grave,", "Set her sad will no less to chime with his,", "But throve not in her trade, not being bred", "To barter, nor compensating the want", "By shrewdness, neither capable of lies,", "Nor asking overmuch and taking less,", "And still foreboding `what would Enoch say?'", "For more than once, in days of difficulty", "And pressure, had she sold her wares for less", "Than what she gave in buying what she sold:", "She fail'd and sadden'd knowing it; and thus,", "Expectant of that news that never came,", "Gain'd for here own a scanty sustenance,", "And lived a life of silent melancholy.", "", "Now the third child was sickly-born and grew", "Yet sicklier, tho' the mother cared for it", "With all a mother's care: nevertheless,", "Whether her business often call'd her from it,", "Or thro' the want of what it needed most,", "Or means to pay the voice who best could tell", "What most it needed--howsoe'er it was,", "After a lingering,--ere she was aware,--", "Like the caged bird escaping suddenly,", "The little innocent soul flitted away.", "", "In that same week when Annie buried it,", "Philip's true heart, which hunger'd for her peace", "(Since Enoch left he had not look'd upon her),", "Smote him, as having kept aloof so long.", "`Surely' said Philip `I may see her now,", "May be some little comfort;' therefore went,", "Past thro' the solitary room in front,", "Paused for a moment at an inner door,", "Then struck it thrice, and, no one opening,", "Enter'd; but Annie, seated with her grief,", "Fresh from the burial of her little one,", "Cared not to look on any human face,", "But turn'd her own toward the wall and wept.", "Then Philip standing up said falteringly", "`Annie, I came to ask a favor of you.'", "", "He spoke; the passion in her moan'd reply", "`Favor from one so sad and so forlorn", "As I am!' half abash'd him; yet unask'd,", "His bashfulness and tenderness at war,", "He set himself beside her, saying to her:", "", "`I came to speak to you of what he wish'd,", "Enoch, your husband: I have ever said", "You chose the best among us--a strong man:", "For where he fixt his heart he set his hand", "To do the thing he will'd, and bore it thro'.", "And wherefore did he go this weary way,", "And leave you lonely? not to see the world--", "For pleasure?--nay, but for the wherewithal", "To give his babes a better bringing-up", "Than his had been, or yours: that was his wish.", "And if he come again, vext will he be", "To find the precious morning hours were lost.", "And it would vex him even in his grave,", "If he could know his babes were running wild", "Like colts about the waste. So Annie, now--", "Have we not known each other all our lives?", "I do beseech you by the love you bear", "Him and his children not to say me nay--", "For, if you will, when Enoch comes again", "Why then he shall repay me--if you will,", "Annie--for I am rich and well-to-do.", "Now let me put the boy and girl to school:", "This is the favor that I came to ask.'", "", "Then Annie with her brows against the wall", "Answer'd `I cannot look you in the face;", "I seem so foolish and so broken down.", "When you came in my sorrow broke me down;", "And now I think your kindness breaks me down;", "But Enoch lives; that is borne in on me:", "He will repay you: money can be repaid;", "Not kindness such as yours.'", "", "And Philip ask'd", "`Then you will let me, Annie?'", "", "There she turn'd,", "She rose, and fixt her swimming eyes upon him,", "And dwelt a moment on his kindly face,", "Then calling down a blessing on his head", "Caught at his hand and wrung it passionately,", "And past into the little garth beyond.", "So lifted up in spirit he moved away.", "", "Then Philip put the boy and girl to school,", "And bought them needful books, and everyway,", "Like one who does his duty by his own,", "Made himself theirs; and tho' for Annie's sake,", "Fearing the lazy gossip of the port,", "He oft denied his heart his dearest wish,", "And seldom crost her threshold, yet he sent", "Gifts by the children, garden-herbs and fruit,", "The late and early roses from his wall,", "Or conies from the down, and now and then,", "With some pretext of fineness in the meal", "To save the offence of charitable, flour", "From his tall mill that whistled on the waste.", "", "But Philip did not fathom Annie's mind:", "Scarce could the woman when he came upon her,", "Out of full heart and boundless gratitude", "Light on a broken word to thank him with.", "But Philip was her children's all-in-all;", "From distant corners of the street they ran", "To greet his hearty welcome heartily;", "Lords of his house and of his mill were they;", "Worried his passive ear with petty wrongs", "Or pleasures, hung upon him, play'd with him", "And call'd him Father Philip. Philip gain'd", "As Enoch lost; for Enoch seem'd to them", "Uncertain as a vision or a dream,", "Faint as a figure seen in early dawn", "Down at the far end of an avenue,", "Going we know not where: and so ten years,", "Since Enoch left his hearth and native land,", "Fled forward, and no news of Enoch came.", "", "It chanced one evening Annie's children long'd", "To go with others, nutting to the wood,", "And Annie would go with them; then they begg'd", "For Father Philip (as they call'd him) too:", "Him, like the working bee in blossom-dust,", "Blanch'd with his mill, they found; and saying to him", "`Come with us Father Philip' he denied;", "But when the children pluck'd at him to go,", "He laugh'd, and yielding readily to their wish,", "For was not Annie with them? and they went.", "", "But after scaling half the weary down,", "Just where the prone edge of the wood began", "To feather toward the hollow, all her force", "Fail'd her; and sighing `let me rest' she said.", "So Philip rested with her well-content;", "While all the younger ones with jubilant cries", "Broke from their elders, and tumultuously", "Down thro' the whitening hazels made a plunge", "To the bottom, and dispersed, and beat or broke", "The lithe reluctant boughs to tear away", "Their tawny clusters, crying to each other", "And calling, here and there, about the wood.", "", "But Philip sitting at her side forgot", "Her presence, and remember'd one dark hour", "Here in this wood, when like a wounded life", "He crept into the shadow: at last he said", "Lifting his honest forehead `Listen, Annie,", "How merry they are down yonder in the wood.'", "`Tired, Annie?' for she did not speak a word.", "`Tired?' but her face had fall'n upon her hands;", "At which, as with a kind anger in him,", "`The ship was lost' he said `the ship was lost!", "No more of that! why should you kill yourself", "And make them orphans quite?' And Annie said", "`I thought not of it: but--I known not why--", "Their voices make me feel so solitary.'", "", "Then Philip coming somewhat closer spoke.", "`Annie, there is a thing upon my mind,", "And it has been upon my mind so long,", "That tho' I know not when it first came there,", "I know that it will out at last. O Annie,", "It is beyond all hope, against all chance,", "That he who left you ten long years ago", "Should still be living; well then--let me speak:", "I grieve to see you poor and wanting help:", "I cannot help you as I wish to do", "Unless--they say that women are so quick--", "Perhaps you know what I would have you know--", "I wish you for my wife. I fain would prove", "A father to your children: I do think", "They love me as a father: I am sure", "That I love them as if they were mine own;", "And I believe, if you were fast my wife,", "That after all these sad uncertain years,", "We might be still as happy as God grants", "To any of His creatures. Think upon it:", "For I am well-to-do--no kin, no care,", "No burthen, save my care for you and yours:", "And we have known each other all our lives,", "And I have loved you longer than you know.'", "", "Then answer'd Annie; tenderly she spoke:", "`You have been as God's good angel in our house.", "God bless you for it, God reward you for it,", "Philip, with something happier than myself.", "Can one live twice? can you be ever loved", "As Enoch was? what is it that you ask?'", "`I am content' he answer'd `to be loved", "A little after Enoch.' `O' she cried", "Scared as it were `dear Philip, wait a while:", "If Enoch comes--but Enoch will not come--", "Yet wait a year, a year is not so long:", "Surely I shall be wiser in a year:", "O wait a little!' Philip sadly said", "`Annie, as I have waited all my life", "I well may wait a little.' `Nay' she cried", "`I am bound: you have my promise--in a year:", "Will you not bide your year as I bide mine?'", "And Philip answer'd `I will bide my year.'", "", "Here both were mute, till Philip glancing up", "Beheld the dead flame of the fallen day", "Pass from the Danish barrow overhead;", "Then fearing night and chill for Annie rose,", "And sent his voice beneath him thro' the wood.", "Up came the children laden with their spoil;", "Then all descended to the port, and there", "At Annie's door he paused and gave his hand,", "Saying gently `Annie, when I spoke to you,", "That was your hour of weakness. I was wrong.", "I am always bound to you, but you are free.'", "Then Annie weeping answer'd `I am bound.'", "", "She spoke; and in one moment as it were,", "While yet she went about her household ways,", "Ev'n as she dwelt upon his latest words,", "That he had loved her longer than she knew,", "That autumn into autumn flash'd again,", "And there he stood once more before her face,", "Claiming her promise. `Is it a year?' she ask'd.", "`Yes, if the nuts' he said `be ripe again:", "Come out and see.' But she--she put him off--", "So much to look to--such a change--a month--", "Give her a month--she knew that she was bound--", "A month--no more. Then Philip with his eyes", "Full of that lifelong hunger, and his voice", "Shaking a little like a drunkard's hand,", "`Take your own time, Annie, take your own time.'", "And Annie could have wept for pity of him;", "And yet she held him on delayingly", "With many a scarce-believable excuse,", "Trying his truth and his long-sufferance,", "Till half-another year had slipt away.", "", "By this the lazy gossips of the port,", "Abhorrent of a calculation crost,", "Began to chafe as at a personal wrong.", "Some thought that Philip did but trifle with her;", "Some that she but held off to draw him on;", "And others laugh'd at her and Philip too,", "As simple folks that knew not their own minds;", "And one, in whom all evil fancies clung", "Like serpent eggs together, laughingly", "Would hint a worse in either. Her own son", "Was silent, tho' he often look'd his wish;", "But evermore the daughter prest upon her", "To wed the man so dear to all of them", "And lift the household out of poverty;", "And Philip's rosy face contracting grew", "Careworn and wan; and all these things fell on her", "Sharp as reproach.", "", "At last one night it chanced", "That Annie could not sleep, but earnestly", "Pray'd for a sign `my Enoch is he gone?'", "Then compass'd round by the blind wall of night", "Brook'd not the expectant terror of her heart,", "Started from bed, and struck herself a light,", "Then desperately seized the holy Book,", "Suddenly set it wide to find a sign,", "Suddenly put her finger on the text,", "`Under a palmtree.' That was nothing to her:", "No meaning there: she closed the book and slept:", "When lo! her Enoch sitting on a height,", "Under a palmtree, over him the Sun:", "`He is gone' she thought `he is happy, he is singing", "Hosanna in the highest: yonder shines", "The Sun of Righteousness, and these be palms", "Whereof the happy people strowing cried", "\"Hosanna in the highest!\"' Here she woke,", "Resolved, sent for him and said wildly to him", "`There is no reason why we should not wed.'", "`Then for God's sake,' he answer'd, `both our sakes,", "So you will wed me, let it be at once.'", "", "So these were wed and merrily rang the bells,", "Merrily rang the bells and they were wed.", "But never merrily beat Annie's heart.", "A footstep seem'd to fall beside her path,", "She knew not whence; a whisper in her ear,", "She knew not what; nor loved she to be left", "Alone at home, nor ventured out alone.", "What ail'd her then, that ere she enter'd, often", "Her hand dwelt lingeringly on the latch,", "Fearing to enter: Philip thought he knew:", "Such doubts and fears were common to her state,", "Being with child: but when her child was born,", "Then her new child was as herself renew'd,", "Then the new mother came about her heart,", "Then her good Philip was her all-in-all,", "And that mysterious instinct wholly died.", "", "And where was Enoch? prosperously sail'd", "The ship `Good Fortune,' tho' at setting forth", "The Biscay, roughly ridging eastward, shook", "And almost overwhelm'd her, yet unvext", "She slipt across the summer of the world,", "Then after a long tumble about the Cape", "And frequent interchange of foul and fair,", "She passing thro' the summer world again,", "The breath of heaven came continually", "And sent her sweetly by the golden isles,", "Till silent in her oriental haven.", "", "There Enoch traded for himself, and bought", "Quaint monsters for the market of those times,", "A gilded dragon, also, for the babes.", "", "Less lucky her home-voyage: at first indeed", "Thro' many a fair sea-circle, day by day,", "Scarce-rocking, her full-busted figure-head", "Stared o'er the ripple feathering from her bows:", "Then follow'd calms, and then winds variable,", "Then baffling, a long course of them; and last", "Storm, such as drove her under moonless heavens", "Till hard upon the cry of `breakers' came", "The crash of ruin, and the loss of all", "But Enoch and two others. Half the night,", "Buoy'd upon floating tackle and broken spars,", "These drifted, stranding on an isle at morn", "Rich, but loneliest in a lonely sea.", "", "No want was there of human sustenance,", "Soft fruitage, mighty nuts, and nourishing roots;", "Nor save for pity was it hard to take", "The helpless life so wild that it was tame.", "There in a seaward-gazing mountain-gorge", "They built, and thatch'd with leaves of palm, a hut,", "Half hut, half native cavern. So the three,", "Set in this Eden of all plenteousness,", "Dwelt with eternal summer, ill-content.", "", "For one, the youngest, hardly more than boy,", "Hurt in that night of sudden ruin and wreck,", "Lay lingering out a three-years' death-in-life.", "They could not leave him. After he was gone,", "The two remaining found a fallen stem;", "And Enoch's comrade, careless of himself,", "Fire-hollowing this in Indian fashion, fell", "Sun-stricken, and that other lived alone.", "In those two deaths he read God's warning `wait.'", "", "The mountain wooded to the peak, the lawns", "And winding glades high up like ways to Heaven,", "The slender coco's drooping crown of plumes,", "The lightning flash of insect and of bird,", "The lustre of the long convolvuluses", "That coil'd around the stately stems, and ran", "Ev'n to the limit of the land, the glows", "And glories of the broad belt of the world,", "All these he saw; but what he fain had seen", "He could not see, the kindly human face,", "Nor ever hear a kindly voice, but heard", "The myriad shriek of wheeling ocean-fowl,", "The league-long roller thundering on the reef,", "The moving whisper of huge trees that branch'd", "And blossom'd in the zenith, or the sweep", "Of some precipitous rivulet to the wave,", "As down the shore he ranged, or all day long", "Sat often in the seaward-gazing gorge,", "A shipwreck'd sailor, waiting for a sail:", "No sail from day to day, but every day", "The sunrise broken into scarlet shafts", "Among the palms and ferns and precipices;", "The blaze upon the waters to the east;", "The blaze upon his island overhead;", "The blaze upon the waters to the west;", "Then the great stars that globed themselves in Heaven,", "The hollower-bellowing ocean, and again", "The scarlet shafts of sunrise--but no sail.", "", "There often as he watch'd or seem'd to watch,", "So still, the golden lizard on him paused,", "A phantom made of many phantoms moved", "Before him haunting him, or he himself", "Moved haunting people, things and places, known", "Far in a darker isle beyond the line;", "The babes, their babble, Annie, the small house,", "The climbing street, the mill, the leafy lanes,", "The peacock-yewtree and the lonely Hall,", "The horse he drove, the boat he sold, the chill", "November dawns and dewy-glooming downs,", "The gentle shower, the smell of dying leaves,", "And the low moan of leaden-color'd seas.", "", "Once likewise, in the ringing of his ears,", "Tho' faintly, merrily--far and far away--", "He heard the pealing of his parish bells;", "Then, tho' he knew not wherefore, started up", "Shuddering, and when the beauteous hateful isle", "Return'd upon him, had not his poor heart", "Spoken with That, which being everywhere", "Lets none, who speaks with Him, seem all alone,", "Surely the man had died of solitude.", "", "Thus over Enoch's early-silvering head", "The sunny and rainy seasons came and went", "Year after year. His hopes to see his own,", "And pace the sacred old familiar fields,", "Not yet had perish'd, when his lonely doom", "Came suddenly to an end. Another ship", "(She wanted water) blown by baffling winds,", "Like the Good Fortune, from her destined course,", "Stay'd by this isle, not knowing where she lay:", "For since the mate had seen at early dawn", "Across a break on the mist-wreathen isle", "The silent water slipping from the hills,", "They sent a crew that landing burst away", "In search of stream or fount, and fill'd the shores", "With clamor. Downward from his mountain gorge", "Stept the long-hair'd long-bearded solitary,", "Brown, looking hardly human, strangely clad,", "Muttering and mumbling, idiotlike it seem'd,", "With inarticulate rage, and making signs", "They knew not what: and yet he led the way", "To where the rivulets of sweet water ran;", "And ever as he mingled with the crew,", "And heard them talking, his long-bounden tongue", "Was loosen'd, till he made them understand;", "Whom, when their casks were fill'd they took aboard:", "And there the tale he utter'd brokenly,", "Scarce credited at first but more and more,", "Amazed and melted all who listen'd to it:", "And clothes they gave him and free passage home;", "But oft he work'd among the rest and shook", "His isolation from him. None of these", "Came from his county, or could answer him,", "If question'd, aught of what he cared to know.", "And dull the voyage was with long delays,", "The vessel scarce sea-worthy; but evermore", "His fancy fled before the lazy wind", "Returning, till beneath a clouded moon", "He like a lover down thro' all his blood", "Drew in the dewy meadowy morning-breath", "Of England, blown across her ghostly wall:", "And that same morning officers and men", "Levied a kindly tax upon themselves,", "Pitying the lonely man, and gave him it:", "Then moving up the coast they landed him,", "Ev'n in that harbor whence he sail'd before.", "", "There Enoch spoke no word to anyone,", "But homeward--home--what home? had he a home?", "His home, he walk'd. Bright was that afternoon,", "Sunny but chill; till drawn thro' either chasm,", "Where either haven open'd on the deeps,", "Roll'd a sea-haze and whelm'd the world in gray;", "Cut off the length of highway on before,", "And left but narrow breadth to left and right", "Of wither'd holt or tilth or pasturage.", "On the nigh-naked tree the Robin piped", "Disconsolate, and thro' the dripping haze", "The dead weight of the dead leaf bore it down.", "Thicker the drizzle grew, deeper the gloom;", "Last, as it seem'd, a great mist-blotted light", "Flared on him, and he came upon the place.", "", "Then down the long street having slowly stolen,", "His heart foreshadowing all calamity,", "His eyes upon the stones, he reach'd the home", "Where Annie lived and loved him, and his babes", "In those far-off seven happy years were born;", "But finding neither light nor murmur there", "(A bill of sale gleam'd thro' the drizzle) crept", "Still downward thinking `dead or dead to me!'", "", "Down to the pool and narrow wharf he went,", "Seeking a tavern which of old he knew,", "A front of timber-crost antiquity,", "So propt, worm-eaten, ruinously old,", "He thought it must have gone; but he was gone", "Who kept it; and his widow, Miriam Lane,", "With daily-dwindling profits held the house;", "A haunt of brawling seamen once, but now", "Stiller, with yet a bed for wandering men.", "There Enoch rested silently many days.", "", "But Miriam Lane was good and garrulous,", "Nor let him be, but often breaking in,", "Told him, with other annals of the port,", "Not knowing--Enoch was so brown, so bow'd,", "So broken--all the story of his house.", "His baby's death, her growing poverty,", "How Philip put her little ones to school,", "And kept them in it, his long wooing her,", "Her slow consent, and marriage, and the birth", "Of Philip's child: and o'er his countenance", "No shadow past, nor motion: anyone,", "Regarding, well had deem'd he felt the tale", "Less than the teller: only when she closed", "`Enoch, poor man, was cast away and lost'", "He, shaking his gray head pathetically,", "Repeated muttering `cast away and lost;'", "Again in deeper inward whispers `lost!'", "", "But Enoch yearn'd to see her face again;", "`If I might look on her sweet face gain", "And know that she is happy.' So the thought", "Haunted and harass'd him, and drove him forth,", "At evening when the dull November day", "Was growing duller twilight, to the hill.", "There he sat down gazing on all below;", "There did a thousand memories roll upon him,", "Unspeakable for sadness. By and by", "The ruddy square of comfortable light,", "Far-blazing from the rear of Philip's house,", "Allured him, as the beacon-blaze allures", "The bird of passage, till he madly strikes", "Against it, and beats out his weary life.", "", "For Philip's dwelling fronted on the street,", "The latest house to landward; but behind,", "With one small gate that open'd on the waste,", "Flourish'd a little garden square and wall'd:", "And in it throve an ancient evergreen,", "A yewtree, and all round it ran a walk", "Of shingle, and a walk divided it:", "But Enoch shunn'd the middle walk and stole", "Up by the wall, behind the yew; and thence", "That which he better might have shunn'd, if griefs", "Like his have worse or better, Enoch saw.", "", "For cups and silver on the burnish'd board", "Sparkled and shone; so genial was the hearth:", "And on the right hand of the hearth he saw", "Philip, the slighted suitor of old times,", "Stout, rosy, with his babe across his knees;", "And o'er her second father stoopt a girl,", "A later but a loftier Annie Lee,", "Fair-hair'd and tall, and from her lifted hand", "Dangled a length of ribbon and a ring", "To tempt the babe, who rear'd his creasy arms,", "Caught at and ever miss'd it, and they laugh'd:", "And on the left hand of the hearth he saw", "The mother glancing often toward her babe,", "But turning now and then to speak with him,", "Her son, who stood beside her tall and strong,", "And saying that which pleased him, for he smiled.", "", "Now when the dead man come to life beheld", "His wife his wife no more, and saw the babe", "Hers, yet not his, upon the father's knee,", "And all the warmth, the peace, the happiness,", "And his own children tall and beautiful,", "And him, that other, reigning in his place,", "Lord of his rights and of his children's love,--", "Then he, tho' Miriam Lane had told him all,", "Because things seen are mightier than things heard,", "Stagger'd and shook, holding the branch, and fear'd", "To send abroad a shrill and terrible cry,", "Which in one moment, like the blast of doom,", "Would shatter all the happiness of the hearth.", "", "He therefore turning softly like a thief,", "Lest the harsh shingle should grate underfoot,", "And feeling all along the garden-wall,", "Lest he should swoon and tumble and be found,", "Crept to the gate, and open'd it, and closed,", "As lightly as a sick man's chamber-door,", "Behind him, and came out upon the waste.", "", "And there he would have knelt, but that his knees", "Were feeble, so that falling prone he dug", "His fingers into the wet earth, and pray'd.", "", "`Too hard to bear! why did they take me hence?", "O God Almighty, blessed Saviour, Thou", "That didst uphold me on my lonely isle,", "Uphold me, Father, in my loneliness", "A little longer! aid me, give me strength", "Not to tell her, never to let her know.", "Help me no to break in upon her peace.", "My children too! must I not speak to these?", "They know me not. I should betray myself.", "Never: not father's kiss for me--the girl", "So like her mother, and the boy, my son.'", "", "There speech and thought and nature fail'd a little,", "And he lay tranced; but when he rose and paced", "Back toward his solitary home again,", "All down the long and narrow street he went", "Beating it in upon his weary brain,", "As tho' it were the burthen of a song,", "`Not to tell her, never to let her know.'", "", "He was not all unhappy. His resolve", "Upbore him, and firm faith, and evermore", "Prayer from a living source within the will,", "And beating up thro' all the bitter world,", "Like fountains of sweet water in the sea,", "Kept him a living soul. `This miller's wife'", "He said to Miriam `that you told me of,", "Has she no fear that her first husband lives?'", "`Ay ay, poor soul' said Miriam, `fear enow!", "If you could tell her you had seen him dead,", "Why, that would be her comfort;' and he thought", "`After the Lord has call'd me she shall know,", "I wait His time' and Enoch set himself,", "Scorning an alms, to work whereby to live.", "Almost to all things could he turn his hand.", "Cooper he was and carpenter, and wrought", "To make the boatmen fishing-nets, or help'd", "At lading and unlading the tall barks,", "That brought the stinted commerce of those days;", "Thus earn'd a scanty living for himself:", "Yet since he did but labor for himself,", "Work without hope, there was not life in it", "Whereby the man could live; and as the year", "Roll'd itself round again to meet the day", "When Enoch had return'd, a languor came", "Upon him, gentle sickness, gradually", "Weakening the man, till he could do no more,", "But kept the house, his chair, and last his bed.", "And Enoch bore his weakness cheerfully.", "For sure no gladlier does the stranded wreck", "See thro' the gray skirts of a lifting squall", "The boat that bears the hope of life approach", "To save the life despair'd of, than he saw", "Death dawning on him, and the close of all.", "", "For thro' that dawning gleam'd a kindlier hope", "On Enoch thinking `after I am gone,", "Then may she learn I loved her to the last.'", "He call'd aloud for Miriam Lane and said", "`Woman, I have a secret--only swear,", "Before I tell you--swear upon the book", "Not to reveal it, till you see me dead.'", "`Dead' clamor'd the good woman `hear him talk!", "I warrant, man, that we shall bring you round.'", "`Swear' add Enoch sternly `on the book.'", "And on the book, half-frighted, Miriam swore.", "Then Enoch rolling his gray eyes upon her,", "`Did you know Enoch Arden of this town?'", "`Know him?' she said `I knew him far away.", "Ay, ay, I mind him coming down the street;", "Held his head high, and cared for no man, he.'", "Slowly and sadly Enoch answer'd her;", "`His head is low, and no man cares for him.", "I think I have not three days more to live;", "I am the man.' At which the woman gave", "A half-incredulous, half-hysterical cry.", "`You Arden, you! nay,--sure he was a foot", "Higher than you be.' Enoch said again", "`My God has bow'd me down to what I am;", "My grief and solitude have broken me;", "Nevertheless, know that I am he", "Who married--but that name has twice been changed--", "I married her who married Philip Ray.", "Sit, listen.' Then he told her of his voyage,", "His wreck, his lonely life, his coming back,", "His gazing in on Annie, his resolve,", "And how he kept it. As the woman heard,", "Fast flow'd the current of her easy tears,", "While in her heart she yearn'd incessantly", "To rush abroad all round the little haven,", "Proclaiming Enoch Arden and his woes;", "But awed and promise-bounded she forbore,", "Saying only `See your bairns before you go!", "Eh, let me fetch 'em, Arden,' and arose", "Eager to bring them down, for Enoch hung", "A moment on her words, but then replied.", "", "`Woman, disturb me not now at the last,", "But let me hold my purpose till I die.", "Sit down again; mark me and understand,", "While I have power to speak. I charge you now,", "When you shall see her, tell her that I died", "Blessing her, praying for her, loving her;", "Save for the bar between us, loving her", "As when she laid her head beside my own.", "And tell my daughter Annie, whom I saw", "So like her mother, that my latest breath", "Was spent in blessing her and praying for her.", "And tell my son that I died blessing him.", "And say to Philip that I blest him too;", "He never meant us any thing but good.", "But if my children care to see me dead,", "Who hardly saw me living, let them come,", "I am their father; but she must not come,", "For my dead face would vex her after-life.", "And now there is but one of all my blood,", "Who will embrace me in the world-to-be:", "This hair is his: she cut it off and gave it,", "And I have borne it with me all these years,", "And thought to bear it with me to my grave;", "But now my mind is changed, for I shall see him,", "My babe in bliss: wherefore when I am gone,", "Take, give her this, for it may comfort her:", "It will moreover be a token to her,", "That I am he.'", "", "He ceased; and Miriam Lane", "Made such a voluble answer promising all,", "That once again he roll'd his eyes upon her", "Repeating all he wish'd, and once again", "She promised.", "", "Then the third night after this,", "While Enoch slumber'd motionless and pale,", "And Miriam watch'd and dozed at intervals,", "There came so loud a calling of the sea,", "That all the houses in the haven rang.", "He woke, he rose, he spread his arms abroad", "Crying with a loud voice `a sail! a sail!", "I am saved'; and so fell back and spoke no more.", "", "So past the strong heroic soul away.", "And when they buried him the little port", "Had seldom seen a costlier funeral." ], "linecount": "917" }, { "title": "The Flower", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Once in a golden hour", "I cast to earth a seed.", "Up there came a flower,", "The people said, a weed.", "", "To and fro they went", "Thro' my garden bower,", "And muttering discontent", "Cursed me and my flower.", "", "Then it grew so tall", "It wore a crown of light,", "But thieves from o'er the wall", "Stole the seed by night.", "", "Sow'd it far and wide", "By every town and tower,", "Till all the people cried,", "\"Splendid is the flower!\"", "", "Read my little fable:", "He that runs may read.", "Most can raise the flowers now,", "For all have got the seed.", "", "And some are pretty enough,", "And some are poor indeed;", "And now again the people", "Call it but a weed." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "In Memoriam A. H. H.: 121. Sad Hesper o'er the buried sun", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Sad Hesper o'er the buried sun", "And ready, thou, to die with him,", "Thou watchest all things ever dim", "And dimmer, and a glory done:", "The team is loosen'd from the wain,", "The boat is drawn upon the shore;", "Thou listenest to the closing door,", "And life is darken'd in the brain.", "Bright Phosphor, fresher for the night,", "By thee the world's great work is heard", "Beginning, and the wakeful bird;", "Behind thee comes the greater light:", "", "The market boat is on the stream,", "And voices hail it from the brink;", "Thou hear'st the village hammer clink,", "And see'st the moving of the team.", "", "Sweet Hesper-Phosphor, double name", "For what is one, the first, the last,", "Thou, like my present and my past,", "Thy place is changed; thou art the same." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Move Eastward, Happy Earth", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Move eastward, happy earth, and leave", "Yon orange sunset waning slow:", "From fringes of the faded eve,", "O, happy planet, eastward go:", "Till over thy dark shoulder glow", "Thy silver sister world, and rise", "To glass herself in dewey eyes", "That watch me from the glen below.", "", "Ah, bear me with thee, lightly borne,", "Dip forward under starry light,", "And move me to my marriage-morn,", "And round again to happy night." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Memoriam A. H. H.: 44. How fares it with the happy dead?", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "How fares it with the happy dead?", "For here the man is more and more;", "But he forgets the days before", "God shut the doorways of his head.", "The days have vanish'd, tone and tint,", "And yet perhaps the hoarding sense", "Gives out at times (he knows not whence)", "A little flash, a mystic hint;", "And in the long harmonious years", "(If Death so taste Lethean springs),", "May some dim touch of earthly things", "Surprise thee ranging with thy peers.", "", "If such a dreamy touch should fall,", "O turn thee round, resolve the doubt;", "My guardian angel will speak out", "In that high place, and tell thee all." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "The Talking Oak", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Once more the gate behind me falls;", "Once more before my face", "I see the moulder'd Abbey-walls,", "That stand within the chace.", "", "Beyond the lodge the city lies,", "Beneath its drift of smoke;", "And ah! with what delighted eyes", "I turn to yonder oak.", "", "For when my passion first began,", "Ere that, which in me burn'd,", "The love, that makes me thrice a man,", "Could hope itself return'd;", "", "To yonder oak within the field", "I spoke without restraint,", "And with a larger faith appeal'd", "Than Papist unto Saint.", "", "For oft I talk'd with him apart", "And told him of my choice,", "Until he plagiarized a heart,", "And answer'd with a voice.", "", "Tho' what he whisper'd under Heaven", "None else could understand;", "I found him garrulously given,", "A babbler in the land.", "", "But since I heard him make reply", "Is many a weary hour;", "'Twere well to question him, and try", "If yet he keeps the power.", "", "Hail, hidden to the knees in fern,", "Broad Oak of Sumner-chace,", "Whose topmost branches can discern", "The roofs of Sumner-place!", "", "Say thou, whereon I carved her name,", "If ever maid or spouse,", "As fair as my Olivia, came", "To rest beneath thy boughs.---", "", "\"O Walter, I have shelter'd here", "Whatever maiden grace", "The good old Summers, year by year", "Made ripe in Sumner-chace:", "", "\"Old Summers, when the monk was fat,", "And, issuing shorn and sleek,", "Would twist his girdle tight, and pat", "The girls upon the cheek,", "", "\"Ere yet, in scorn of Peter's-pence,", "And number'd bead, and shrift,", "Bluff Harry broke into the spence", "And turn'd the cowls adrift:", "", "\"And I have seen some score of those", "Fresh faces that would thrive", "When his man-minded offset rose", "To chase the deer at five;", "", "\"And all that from the town would stroll,", "Till that wild wind made work", "In which the gloomy brewer's soul", "Went by me, like a stork:", "", "\"The slight she-slips of royal blood,", "And others, passing praise,", "Straight-laced, but all-too-full in bud", "For puritanic stays:", "", "\"And I have shadow'd many a group", "Of beauties, that were born", "In teacup-times of hood and hoop,", "Or while the patch was worn;", "", "\"And, leg and arm with love-knots gay", "About me leap'd and laugh'd", "The modish Cupid of the day,", "And shrill'd his tinsel shaft.", "", "\"I swear (and else may insects prick", "Each leaf into a gall)", "This girl, for whom your heart is sick,", "Is three times worth them all.", "", "\"For those and theirs, by Nature's law,", "Have faded long ago;", "But in these latter springs I saw", "Your own Olivia blow,", "", "\"From when she gamboll'd on the greens", "A baby-germ, to when", "The maiden blossoms of her teens", "Could number five from ten.", "", "\"I swear, by leaf, and wind, and rain,", "(And hear me with thine ears,)", "That, tho' I circle in the grain", "Five hundred rings of years---", "", "\"Yet, since I first could cast a shade,", "Did never creature pass", "So slightly, musically made,", "So light upon the grass:", "", "\"For as to fairies, that will flit", "To make the greensward fresh,", "I hold them exquisitely knit,", "But far too spare of flesh.\"", "", "Oh, hide thy knotted knees in fern,", "And overlook the chace;", "And from thy topmost branch discern", "The roofs of Sumner-place.", "", "But thou, whereon I carved her name,", "That oft hast heard my vows,", "Declare when last Olivia came", "To sport beneath thy boughs.", "", "\"O yesterday, you know, the fair", "Was holden at the town;", "Her father left his good arm-chair,", "And rode his hunter down.", "", "\"And with him Albert came on his.", "I look'd at him with joy:", "As cowslip unto oxlip is,", "So seems she to the boy.", "", "\"An hour had past---and, sitting straight", "Within the low-wheel'd chaise,", "Her mother trundled to the gate", "Behind the dappled grays.", "", "\"But as for her, she stay'd at home,", "And on the roof she went,", "And down the way you use to come,", "She look'd with discontent.", "", "\"She left the novel half-uncut", "Upon the rosewood shelf;", "She left the new piano shut:", "She could not please herseif", "", "\"Then ran she, gamesome as the colt,", "And livelier than a lark", "She sent her voice thro' all the holt", "Before her, and the park.", "", "\"A light wind chased her on the wing,", "And in the chase grew wild,", "As close as might be would he cling", "About the darling child:", "", "\"But light as any wind that blows", "So fleetly did she stir,", "The flower, she touch'd on, dipt and rose,", "And turn'd to look at her.", "", "\"And here she came, and round me play'd,", "And sang to me the whole", "Of those three stanzas that you made", "About my Ôgiant bole;'", "", "\"And in a fit of frolic mirth", "She strove to span my waist:", "Alas, I was so broad of girth,", "I could not be embraced.", "", "\"I wish'd myself the fair young beech", "That here beside me stands,", "That round me, clasping each in each,", "She might have lock'd her hands.", "", "\"Yet seem'd the pressure thrice as sweet", "As woodbine's fragile hold,", "Or when I feel about my feet", "The berried briony fold.\"", "", "O muffle round thy knees with fern,", "And shadow Sumner-chace!", "Long may thy topmost branch discern", "The roofs of Sumner-place!", "", "But tell me, did she read the name", "I carved with many vows", "When last with throbbing heart I came", "To rest beneath thy boughs?", "", "\"O yes, she wander'd round and round", "These knotted knees of mine,", "And found, and kiss'd the name she found,", "And sweetly murmur'd thine.", "", "\"A teardrop trembled from its source,", "And down my surface crept.", "My sense of touch is something coarse,", "But I believe she wept.", "", "\"Then flush'd her cheek with rosy light,", "She glanced across the plain;", "But not a creature was in sight:", "She kiss'd me once again.", "", "\"Her kisses were so close and kind,", "That, trust me on my word,", "Hard wood I am, and wrinkled rind,", "But yet my sap was stirr'd:", "", "\"And even into my inmost ring", "A pleasure I discern'd,", "Like those blind motions of the Spring,", "That show the year is turn'd.", "", "\"Thrice-happy he that may caress", "The ringlet's waving balm---", "The cushions of whose touch may press", "The maiden's tender palm.", "", "\"I, rooted here among the groves", "But languidly adjust", "My vapid vegetable loves", "With anthers and with dust:", "", "\"For ah! my friend, the days were brief", "Whereof the poets talk,", "When that, which breathes within the leaf,", "Could slip its bark and walk.", "", "\"But could I, as in times foregone,", "From spray, and branch, and stem,", "Have suck'd and gather'd into one", "The life that spreads in them,", "", "\"She had not found me so remiss;", "But lightly issuing thro',", "I would have paid her kiss for kiss,", "With usury thereto.\"", "", "O flourish high, with leafy towers,", "And overlook the lea,", "Pursue thy loves among the bowers", "But leave thou mine to me.", "", "O flourish, hidden deep in fern,", "Old oak, I love thee well;", "A thousand thanks for what I learn", "And what remains to tell.", "", "\" ÔTis little more: the day was warm;", "At last, tired out with play,", "She sank her head upon her arm", "And at my feet she lay.", "", "\"Her eyelids dropp'd their silken eaves", "I breathed upon her eyes", "Thro' all the summer of my leaves", "A welcome mix'd with sighs.", "", "\"I took the swarming sound of life---", "The music from the town---", "The murmurs of the drum and fife", "And lull'd them in my own.", "", "\"Sometimes I let a sunbeam slip,", "To light her shaded eye;", "A second flutter'd round her lip", "Like a golden butterfly;", "", "\"A third would glimmer on her neck", "To make the necklace shine;", "Another slid, a sunny fleck,", "From head to ankle fine,", "", "\"Then close and dark my arms I spread,", "And shadow'd all her rest---", "Dropt dews upon her golden head,", "An acorn in her breast.", "", "\"But in a pet she started up,", "And pluck'd it out, and drew", "My little oakling from the cup,", "And flung him in the dew.", "", "\"And yet it was a graceful gift---", "I felt a pang within", "As when I see the woodman lift", "His axe to slay my kin.", "", "\"I shook him down because he was", "The finest on the tree.", "He lies beside thee on the grass.", "O kiss him once for me.", "", "\"O kiss him twice and thrice for me,", "That have no lips to kiss,", "For never yet was oak on lea", "Shall grow so fair as this.'", "", "Step deeper yet in herb and fern,", "Look further thro' the chace,", "Spread upward till thy boughs discern", "The front of Sumner-place.", "", "This fruit of thine by Love is blest,", "That but a moment lay", "Where fairer fruit of Love may rest", "Some happy future day.", "", "I kiss it twice, I kiss it thrice,", "The warmth it thence shall win", "To riper life may magnetise", "The baby-oak within.", "", "But thou, while kingdoms overset,", "Or lapse from hand to hand,", "Thy leaf shall never fail, nor yet", "Thine acorn in the land.", "", "May never saw dismember thee,", "Nor wielded axe disjoint,", "That art the fairest-spoken tree", "From here to Lizard-point.", "", "O rock upon thy towery-top", "All throats that gurgle sweet!", "All starry culmination drop", "Balm-dews to bathe thy feet!", "", "All grass of silky feather grow---", "And while he sinks or swells", "The full south-breeze around thee blow", "The sound of minster bells.", "", "The fat earth feed thy branchy root,", "That under deeply strikes!", "The northern morning o'er thee shoot,", "High up, in silver spikes!", "", "Nor ever lightning char thy grain,", "But, rolling as in sleep,", "Low thunders bring the mellow rain,", "That makes thee broad and deep!", "", "And hear me swear a solemn oath,", "That only by thy side", "Will I to Olive plight my troth,", "And gain her for my bride.", "", "And when my marriage morn may fall,", "She, Dryad-like, shall wear", "Alternate leaf and acorn-ball", "In wreath about her hair.", "", "And I will work in prose and rhyme,", "And praise thee more in both", "Than bard has honour'd beech or lime,", "Or that Thessalian growth,", "", "In which the swarthy ringdove sat,", "And mystic sentence spoke;", "And more than England honours that,", "Thy famous brother-oak,", "", "Wherein the younger Charles abode", "Till all the paths were dim,", "And far below the Roundhead rode,", "And humm'd a surly hymn." ], "linecount": "300" }, { "title": "In Memoriam A. H. H.: 131. O living will that shalt endure", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "O living will that shalt endure", "When all that seems shall suffer shock,", "Rise in the spiritual rock,", "Flow thro' our deeds and make them pure,", "That we may lift from out of dust", "A voice as unto him that hears,", "A cry above the conquer'd years", "To one that with us works, and trust,", "With faith that comes of self-control,", "The truths that never can be proved", "Until we close with all we loved,", "And all we flow from, soul in soul.------", "", "O true and tried, so well and long,", "Demand not thou a marriage lay;", "In that it is thy marriage day", "Is music more than any song.", "", "Nor have I felt so much of bliss", "Since first he told me that he loved", "A daughter of our house; nor proved", "Since that dark day a day like this;", "", "Tho' I since then have number'd o'er", "Some thrice three years: they went and came,", "Remade the blood and changed the frame,", "And yet is love not less, but more;", "", "No longer caring to embalm", "In dying songs a dead regret,", "But like a statue solid-set,", "And moulded in colossal calm.", "", "Regret is dead, but love is more", "Than in the summers that are flown,", "For I myself with these have grown", "To something greater than before;", "", "Which makes appear the songs I made", "As echoes out of weaker times,", "As half but idle brawling rhymes,", "The sport of random sun and shade.", "", "But where is she, the bridal flower,", "That must be made a wife ere noon?", "She enters, glowing like the moon", "Of Eden on its bridal bower:", "", "On me she bends her blissful eyes", "And then on thee; they meet thy look", "And brighten like the star that shook", "Betwixt the palms of paradise.", "", "O when her life was yet in bud,", "He too foretold the perfect rose.", "For thee she grew, for thee she grows", "For ever, and as fair as good.", "", "And thou art worthy; full of power;", "As gentle; liberal-minded, great,", "Consistent; wearing all that weight", "Of learning lightly like a flower.", "", "But now set out: the noon is near,", "And I must give away the bride;", "She fears not, or with thee beside", "And me behind her, will not fear.", "", "For I that danced her on my knee,", "That watch'd her on her nurse's arm,", "That shielded all her life from harm", "At last must part with her to thee;", "", "Now waiting to be made a wife,", "Her feet, my darling, on the dead;", "Their pensive tablets round her head,", "And the most living words of life", "", "Breathed in her ear. The ring is on,", "The \"wilt thou\" answer'd, and again", "The \"wilt thou\" ask'd, till out of twain", "Her sweet \"I will\" has made you one.", "", "Now sign your names, which shall be read,", "Mute symbols of a joyful morn,", "By village eyes as yet unborn;", "The names are sign'd, and overhead", "", "Begins the clash and clang that tells", "The joy to every wandering breeze;", "The blind wall rocks, and on the trees", "The dead leaf trembles to the bells.", "", "O happy hour, and happier hours", "Await them. Many a merry face", "Salutes them--maidens of the place,", "That pelt us in the porch with flowers.", "", "O happy hour, behold the bride", "With him to whom her hand I gave.", "They leave the porch, they pass the grave", "That has to-day its sunny side.", "", "To-day the grave is bright for me,", "For them the light of life increased,", "Who stay to share the morning feast,", "Who rest to-night beside the sea.", "", "Let all my genial spirits advance", "To meet and greet a whiter sun;", "My drooping memory will not shun", "The foaming grape of eastern France.", "", "It circles round, and fancy plays,", "And hearts are warm'd and faces bloom,", "As drinking health to bride and groom", "We wish them store of happy days.", "", "Nor count me all to blame if I", "Conjecture of a stiller guest,", "Perchance, perchance, among the rest,", "And, tho' in silence, wishing joy.", "", "", "But they must go, the time draws on,", "And those white-favour'd horses wait;", "They rise, but linger; it is late;", "Farewell, we kiss, and they are gone.", "", "", "A shade falls on us like the dark", "From little cloudlets on the grass,", "But sweeps away as out we pass", "To range the woods, to roam the park,", "", "", "Discussing how their courtship grew,", "And talk of others that are wed,", "And how she look'd, and what he said,", "And back we come at fall of dew.", "", "", "Again the feast, the speech, the glee,", "The shade of passing thought, the wealth", "Of words and wit, the double health,", "The crowning cup, the three-times-three,", "", "", "And last the dance,--till I retire:", "Dumb is that tower which spake so loud,", "And high in heaven the streaming cloud,", "And on the downs a rising fire:", "", "", "And rise, O moon, from yonder down,", "Till over down and over dale", "All night the shining vapour sail", "And pass the silent-lighted town,", "", "", "The white-faced halls, the glancing rills,", "And catch at every mountain head,", "And o'er the friths that branch and spread", "Their sleeping silver thro' the hills;", "", "", "And touch with shade the bridal doors,", "With tender gloom the roof, the wall;", "And breaking let the splendour fall", "To spangle all the happy shores", "", "", "By which they rest, and ocean sounds,", "And, star and system rolling past,", "A soul shall draw from out the vast", "And strike his being into bounds,", "", "", "And, moved thro' life of lower phase,", "Result in man, be born and think,", "And act and love, a closer link", "Betwixt us and the crowning race", "", "", "Of those that, eye to eye, shall look", "On knowledge; under whose command", "Is Earth and Earth's, and in their hand", "Is Nature like an open book;", "", "", "No longer half-akin to brute,", "For all we thought and loved and did,", "And hoped, and suffer'd, is but seed", "Of what in them is flower and fruit;", "", "", "Whereof the man, that with me trod", "This planet, was a noble type", "Appearing ere the times were ripe,", "That friend of mine who lives in God,", "", "", "That God, which ever lives and loves,", "One God, one law, one element,", "And one far-off divine event,", "To which the whole creation moves." ], "linecount": "156" }, { "title": "The Marriage Of Geraint", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "The brave Geraint, a knight of Arthur's court,", "A tributary prince of Devon, one", "Of that great Order of the Table Round,", "Had married Enid, Yniol's only child,", "And loved her, as he loved the light of Heaven.", "And as the light of Heaven varies, now", "At sunrise, now at sunset, now by night", "With moon and trembling stars, so loved Geraint", "To make her beauty vary day by day,", "In crimsons and in purples and in gems.", "And Enid, but to please her husband's eye,", "Who first had found and loved her in a state", "Of broken fortunes, daily fronted him", "In some fresh splendour; and the Queen herself,", "Grateful to Prince Geraint for service done,", "Loved her, and often with her own white hands", "Arrayed and decked her, as the loveliest,", "Next after her own self, in all the court.", "And Enid loved the Queen, and with true heart", "Adored her, as the stateliest and the best", "And loveliest of all women upon earth.", "And seeing them so tender and so close,", "Long in their common love rejoiced Geraint.", "But when a rumour rose about the Queen,", "Touching her guilty love for Lancelot,", "Though yet there lived no proof, nor yet was heard", "The world's loud whisper breaking into storm,", "Not less Geraint believed it; and there fell", "A horror on him, lest his gentle wife,", "Through that great tenderness for Guinevere,", "Had suffered, or should suffer any taint", "In nature: wherefore going to the King,", "He made this pretext, that his princedom lay", "Close on the borders of a territory,", "Wherein were bandit earls, and caitiff knights,", "Assassins, and all flyers from the hand", "Of Justice, and whatever loathes a law:", "And therefore, till the King himself should please", "To cleanse this common sewer of all his realm,", "He craved a fair permission to depart,", "And there defend his marches; and the King", "Mused for a little on his plea, but, last,", "Allowing it, the Prince and Enid rode,", "And fifty knights rode with them, to the shores", "Of Severn, and they past to their own land;", "Where, thinking, that if ever yet was wife", "True to her lord, mine shall be so to me,", "He compassed her with sweet observances", "And worship, never leaving her, and grew", "Forgetful of his promise to the King,", "Forgetful of the falcon and the hunt,", "Forgetful of the tilt and tournament,", "Forgetful of his glory and his name,", "Forgetful of his princedom and its cares.", "And this forgetfulness was hateful to her.", "And by and by the people, when they met", "In twos and threes, or fuller companies,", "Began to scoff and jeer and babble of him", "As of a prince whose manhood was all gone,", "And molten down in mere uxoriousness.", "And this she gathered from the people's eyes:", "This too the women who attired her head,", "To please her, dwelling on his boundless love,", "Told Enid, and they saddened her the more:", "And day by day she thought to tell Geraint,", "But could not out of bashful delicacy;", "While he that watched her sadden, was the more", "Suspicious that her nature had a taint.", "", "At last, it chanced that on a summer morn", "(They sleeping each by either) the new sun", "Beat through the blindless casement of the room,", "And heated the strong warrior in his dreams;", "Who, moving, cast the coverlet aside,", "And bared the knotted column of his throat,", "The massive square of his heroic breast,", "And arms on which the standing muscle sloped,", "As slopes a wild brook o'er a little stone,", "Running too vehemently to break upon it.", "And Enid woke and sat beside the couch,", "Admiring him, and thought within herself,", "Was ever man so grandly made as he?", "Then, like a shadow, past the people's talk", "And accusation of uxoriousness", "Across her mind, and bowing over him,", "Low to her own heart piteously she said:", "", "'O noble breast and all-puissant arms,", "Am I the cause, I the poor cause that men", "Reproach you, saying all your force is gone?", "I AM the cause, because I dare not speak", "And tell him what I think and what they say.", "And yet I hate that he should linger here;", "I cannot love my lord and not his name.", "Far liefer had I gird his harness on him,", "And ride with him to battle and stand by,", "And watch his mightful hand striking great blows", "At caitiffs and at wrongers of the world.", "Far better were I laid in the dark earth,", "Not hearing any more his noble voice,", "Not to be folded more in these dear arms,", "And darkened from the high light in his eyes,", "Than that my lord through me should suffer shame.", "Am I so bold, and could I so stand by,", "And see my dear lord wounded in the strife,", "And maybe pierced to death before mine eyes,", "And yet not dare to tell him what I think,", "And how men slur him, saying all his force", "Is melted into mere effeminacy?", "O me, I fear that I am no true wife.'", "", "Half inwardly, half audibly she spoke,", "And the strong passion in her made her weep", "True tears upon his broad and naked breast,", "And these awoke him, and by great mischance", "He heard but fragments of her later words,", "And that she feared she was not a true wife.", "And then he thought, 'In spite of all my care,", "For all my pains, poor man, for all my pains,", "She is not faithful to me, and I see her", "Weeping for some gay knight in Arthur's hall.'", "Then though he loved and reverenced her too much", "To dream she could be guilty of foul act,", "Right through his manful breast darted the pang", "That makes a man, in the sweet face of her", "Whom he loves most, lonely and miserable.", "At this he hurled his huge limbs out of bed,", "And shook his drowsy squire awake and cried,", "'My charger and her palfrey;' then to her,", "'I will ride forth into the wilderness;", "For though it seems my spurs are yet to win,", "I have not fallen so low as some would wish.", "And thou, put on thy worst and meanest dress", "And ride with me.' And Enid asked, amazed,", "'If Enid errs, let Enid learn her fault.'", "But he, 'I charge thee, ask not, but obey.'", "Then she bethought her of a faded silk,", "A faded mantle and a faded veil,", "And moving toward a cedarn cabinet,", "Wherein she kept them folded reverently", "With sprigs of summer laid between the folds,", "She took them, and arrayed herself therein,", "Remembering when first he came on her", "Drest in that dress, and how he loved her in it,", "And all her foolish fears about the dress,", "And all his journey to her, as himself", "Had told her, and their coming to the court.", "", "For Arthur on the Whitsuntide before", "Held court at old Caerleon upon Usk.", "There on a day, he sitting high in hall,", "Before him came a forester of Dean,", "Wet from the woods, with notice of a hart", "Taller than all his fellows, milky-white,", "First seen that day: these things he told the King.", "Then the good King gave order to let blow", "His horns for hunting on the morrow morn.", "And when the King petitioned for his leave", "To see the hunt, allowed it easily.", "So with the morning all the court were gone.", "But Guinevere lay late into the morn,", "Lost in sweet dreams, and dreaming of her love", "For Lancelot, and forgetful of the hunt;", "But rose at last, a single maiden with her,", "Took horse, and forded Usk, and gained the wood;", "There, on a little knoll beside it, stayed", "Waiting to hear the hounds; but heard instead", "A sudden sound of hoofs, for Prince Geraint,", "Late also, wearing neither hunting-dress", "Nor weapon, save a golden-hilted brand,", "Came quickly flashing through the shallow ford", "Behind them, and so galloped up the knoll.", "A purple scarf, at either end whereof", "There swung an apple of the purest gold,", "Swayed round about him, as he galloped up", "To join them, glancing like a dragon-fly", "In summer suit and silks of holiday.", "Low bowed the tributary Prince, and she,", "Sweet and statelily, and with all grace", "Of womanhood and queenhood, answered him:", "'Late, late, Sir Prince,' she said, 'later than we!'", "'Yea, noble Queen,' he answered, 'and so late", "That I but come like you to see the hunt,", "Not join it.' 'Therefore wait with me,' she said;", "'For on this little knoll, if anywhere,", "There is good chance that we shall hear the hounds:", "Here often they break covert at our feet.'", "", "And while they listened for the distant hunt,", "And chiefly for the baying of Cavall,", "King Arthur's hound of deepest mouth, there rode", "Full slowly by a knight, lady, and dwarf;", "Whereof the dwarf lagged latest, and the knight", "Had vizor up, and showed a youthful face,", "Imperious, and of haughtiest lineaments.", "And Guinevere, not mindful of his face", "In the King's hall, desired his name, and sent", "Her maiden to demand it of the dwarf;", "Who being vicious, old and irritable,", "And doubling all his master's vice of pride,", "Made answer sharply that she should not know.", "'Then will I ask it of himself,' she said.", "'Nay, by my faith, thou shalt not,' cried the dwarf;", "'Thou art not worthy even to speak of him;'", "And when she put her horse toward the knight,", "Struck at her with his whip, and she returned", "Indignant to the Queen; whereat Geraint", "Exclaiming, 'Surely I will learn the name,'", "Made sharply to the dwarf, and asked it of him,", "Who answered as before; and when the Prince", "Had put his horse in motion toward the knight,", "Struck at him with his whip, and cut his cheek.", "The Prince's blood spirted upon the scarf,", "Dyeing it; and his quick, instinctive hand", "Caught at the hilt, as to abolish him:", "But he, from his exceeding manfulness", "And pure nobility of temperament,", "Wroth to be wroth at such a worm, refrained", "From even a word, and so returning said:", "", "'I will avenge this insult, noble Queen,", "Done in your maiden's person to yourself:", "And I will track this vermin to their earths:", "For though I ride unarmed, I do not doubt", "To find, at some place I shall come at, arms", "On loan, or else for pledge; and, being found,", "Then will I fight him, and will break his pride,", "And on the third day will again be here,", "So that I be not fallen in fight. Farewell.'", "", "'Farewell, fair Prince,' answered the stately Queen.", "'Be prosperous in this journey, as in all;", "And may you light on all things that you love,", "And live to wed with her whom first you love:", "But ere you wed with any, bring your bride,", "And I, were she the daughter of a king,", "Yea, though she were a beggar from the hedge,", "Will clothe her for her bridals like the sun.'", "", "And Prince Geraint, now thinking that he heard", "The noble hart at bay, now the far horn,", "A little vext at losing of the hunt,", "A little at the vile occasion, rode,", "By ups and downs, through many a grassy glade", "And valley, with fixt eye following the three.", "At last they issued from the world of wood,", "And climbed upon a fair and even ridge,", "And showed themselves against the sky, and sank.", "And thither there came Geraint, and underneath", "Beheld the long street of a little town", "In a long valley, on one side whereof,", "White from the mason's hand, a fortress rose;", "And on one side a castle in decay,", "Beyond a bridge that spanned a dry ravine:", "And out of town and valley came a noise", "As of a broad brook o'er a shingly bed", "Brawling, or like a clamour of the rooks", "At distance, ere they settle for the night.", "", "And onward to the fortress rode the three,", "And entered, and were lost behind the walls.", "'So,' thought Geraint, 'I have tracked him to his earth.'", "And down the long street riding wearily,", "Found every hostel full, and everywhere", "Was hammer laid to hoof, and the hot hiss", "And bustling whistle of the youth who scoured", "His master's armour; and of such a one", "He asked, 'What means the tumult in the town?'", "Who told him, scouring still, 'The sparrow-hawk!'", "Then riding close behind an ancient churl,", "Who, smitten by the dusty sloping beam,", "Went sweating underneath a sack of corn,", "Asked yet once more what meant the hubbub here?", "Who answered gruffly, 'Ugh! the sparrow-hawk.'", "Then riding further past an armourer's,", "Who, with back turned, and bowed above his work,", "Sat riveting a helmet on his knee,", "He put the self-same query, but the man", "Not turning round, nor looking at him, said:", "'Friend, he that labours for the sparrow-hawk", "Has little time for idle questioners.'", "Whereat Geraint flashed into sudden spleen:", "'A thousand pips eat up your sparrow-hawk!", "Tits, wrens, and all winged nothings peck him dead!", "Ye think the rustic cackle of your bourg", "The murmur of the world! What is it to me?", "O wretched set of sparrows, one and all,", "Who pipe of nothing but of sparrow-hawks!", "Speak, if ye be not like the rest, hawk-mad,", "Where can I get me harbourage for the night?", "And arms, arms, arms to fight my enemy? Speak!'", "Whereat the armourer turning all amazed", "And seeing one so gay in purple silks,", "Came forward with the helmet yet in hand", "And answered, 'Pardon me, O stranger knight;", "We hold a tourney here tomorrow morn,", "And there is scantly time for half the work.", "Arms? truth! I know not: all are wanted here.", "Harbourage? truth, good truth, I know not, save,", "It may be, at Earl Yniol's, o'er the bridge", "Yonder.' He spoke and fell to work again.", "", "Then rode Geraint, a little spleenful yet,", "Across the bridge that spanned the dry ravine.", "There musing sat the hoary-headed Earl,", "(His dress a suit of frayed magnificence,", "Once fit for feasts of ceremony) and said:", "'Whither, fair son?' to whom Geraint replied,", "'O friend, I seek a harbourage for the night.'", "Then Yniol, 'Enter therefore and partake", "The slender entertainment of a house", "Once rich, now poor, but ever open-doored.'", "'Thanks, venerable friend,' replied Geraint;", "'So that ye do not serve me sparrow-hawks", "For supper, I will enter, I will eat", "With all the passion of a twelve hours' fast.'", "Then sighed and smiled the hoary-headed Earl,", "And answered, 'Graver cause than yours is mine", "To curse this hedgerow thief, the sparrow-hawk:", "But in, go in; for save yourself desire it,", "We will not touch upon him even in jest.'", "", "Then rode Geraint into the castle court,", "His charger trampling many a prickly star", "Of sprouted thistle on the broken stones.", "He looked and saw that all was ruinous.", "Here stood a shattered archway plumed with fern;", "And here had fallen a great part of a tower,", "Whole, like a crag that tumbles from the cliff,", "And like a crag was gay with wilding flowers:", "And high above a piece of turret stair,", "Worn by the feet that now were silent, wound", "Bare to the sun, and monstrous ivy-stems", "Claspt the gray walls with hairy-fibred arms,", "And sucked the joining of the stones, and looked", "A knot, beneath, of snakes, aloft, a grove.", "", "And while he waited in the castle court,", "The voice of Enid, Yniol's daughter, rang", "Clear through the open casement of the hall,", "Singing; and as the sweet voice of a bird,", "Heard by the lander in a lonely isle,", "Moves him to think what kind of bird it is", "That sings so delicately clear, and make", "Conjecture of the plumage and the form;", "So the sweet voice of Enid moved Geraint;", "And made him like a man abroad at morn", "When first the liquid note beloved of men", "Comes flying over many a windy wave", "To Britain, and in April suddenly", "Breaks from a coppice gemmed with green and red,", "And he suspends his converse with a friend,", "Or it may be the labour of his hands,", "To think or say, 'There is the nightingale;'", "So fared it with Geraint, who thought and said,", "'Here, by God's grace, is the one voice for me.'", "", "It chanced the song that Enid sang was one", "Of Fortune and her wheel, and Enid sang:", "", "'Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel and lower the proud;", "Turn thy wild wheel through sunshine, storm, and cloud;", "Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate.", "", "'Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel with smile or frown;", "With that wild wheel we go not up or down;", "Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great.", "", "'Smile and we smile, the lords of many lands;", "Frown and we smile, the lords of our own hands;", "For man is man and master of his fate.", "", "'Turn, turn thy wheel above the staring crowd;", "Thy wheel and thou are shadows in the cloud;", "Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate.'", "", "'Hark, by the bird's song ye may learn the nest,'", "Said Yniol; 'enter quickly.' Entering then,", "Right o'er a mount of newly-fallen stones,", "The dusky-raftered many-cobwebbed hall,", "He found an ancient dame in dim brocade;", "And near her, like a blossom vermeil-white,", "That lightly breaks a faded flower-sheath,", "Moved the fair Enid, all in faded silk,", "Her daughter. In a moment thought Geraint,", "'Here by God's rood is the one maid for me.'", "But none spake word except the hoary Earl:", "'Enid, the good knight's horse stands in the court;", "Take him to stall, and give him corn, and then", "Go to the town and buy us flesh and wine;", "And we will make us merry as we may.", "Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great.'", "", "He spake: the Prince, as Enid past him, fain", "To follow, strode a stride, but Yniol caught", "His purple scarf, and held, and said, 'Forbear!", "Rest! the good house, though ruined, O my son,", "Endures not that her guest should serve himself.'", "And reverencing the custom of the house", "Geraint, from utter courtesy, forbore.", "", "So Enid took his charger to the stall;", "And after went her way across the bridge,", "And reached the town, and while the Prince and Earl", "Yet spoke together, came again with one,", "A youth, that following with a costrel bore", "The means of goodly welcome, flesh and wine.", "And Enid brought sweet cakes to make them cheer,", "And in her veil enfolded, manchet bread.", "And then, because their hall must also serve", "For kitchen, boiled the flesh, and spread the board,", "And stood behind, and waited on the three.", "And seeing her so sweet and serviceable,", "Geraint had longing in him evermore", "To stoop and kiss the tender little thumb,", "That crost the trencher as she laid it down:", "But after all had eaten, then Geraint,", "For now the wine made summer in his veins,", "Let his eye rove in following, or rest", "On Enid at her lowly handmaid-work,", "Now here, now there, about the dusky hall;", "Then suddenly addrest the hoary Earl:", "", "'Fair Host and Earl, I pray your courtesy;", "This sparrow-hawk, what is he? tell me of him.", "His name? but no, good faith, I will not have it:", "For if he be the knight whom late I saw", "Ride into that new fortress by your town,", "White from the mason's hand, then have I sworn", "From his own lips to have it--I am Geraint", "Of Devon--for this morning when the Queen", "Sent her own maiden to demand the name,", "His dwarf, a vicious under-shapen thing,", "Struck at her with his whip, and she returned", "Indignant to the Queen; and then I swore", "That I would track this caitiff to his hold,", "And fight and break his pride, and have it of him.", "And all unarmed I rode, and thought to find", "Arms in your town, where all the men are mad;", "They take the rustic murmur of their bourg", "For the great wave that echoes round the world;", "They would not hear me speak: but if ye know", "Where I can light on arms, or if yourself", "Should have them, tell me, seeing I have sworn", "That I will break his pride and learn his name,", "Avenging this great insult done the Queen.'", "", "Then cried Earl Yniol, 'Art thou he indeed,", "Geraint, a name far-sounded among men", "For noble deeds? and truly I, when first", "I saw you moving by me on the bridge,", "Felt ye were somewhat, yea, and by your state", "And presence might have guessed you one of those", "That eat in Arthur's hall in Camelot.", "Nor speak I now from foolish flattery;", "For this dear child hath often heard me praise", "Your feats of arms, and often when I paused", "Hath asked again, and ever loved to hear;", "So grateful is the noise of noble deeds", "To noble hearts who see but acts of wrong:", "O never yet had woman such a pair", "Of suitors as this maiden: first Limours,", "A creature wholly given to brawls and wine,", "Drunk even when he wooed; and be he dead", "I know not, but he past to the wild land.", "The second was your foe, the sparrow-hawk,", "My curse, my nephew--I will not let his name", "Slip from my lips if I can help it--he,", "When that I knew him fierce and turbulent", "Refused her to him, then his pride awoke;", "And since the proud man often is the mean,", "He sowed a slander in the common ear,", "Affirming that his father left him gold,", "And in my charge, which was not rendered to him;", "Bribed with large promises the men who served", "About my person, the more easily", "Because my means were somewhat broken into", "Through open doors and hospitality;", "Raised my own town against me in the night", "Before my Enid's birthday, sacked my house;", "From mine own earldom foully ousted me;", "Built that new fort to overawe my friends,", "For truly there are those who love me yet;", "And keeps me in this ruinous castle here,", "Where doubtless he would put me soon to death,", "But that his pride too much despises me:", "And I myself sometimes despise myself;", "For I have let men be, and have their way;", "Am much too gentle, have not used my power:", "Nor know I whether I be very base", "Or very manful, whether very wise", "Or very foolish; only this I know,", "That whatsoever evil happen to me,", "I seem to suffer nothing heart or limb,", "But can endure it all most patiently.'", "", "'Well said, true heart,' replied Geraint, 'but arms,", "That if the sparrow-hawk, this nephew, fight", "In next day's tourney I may break his pride.'", "", "And Yniol answered, 'Arms, indeed, but old", "And rusty, old and rusty, Prince Geraint,", "Are mine, and therefore at thy asking, thine.", "But in this tournament can no man tilt,", "Except the lady he loves best be there.", "Two forks are fixt into the meadow ground,", "And over these is placed a silver wand,", "And over that a golden sparrow-hawk,", "The prize of beauty for the fairest there.", "And this, what knight soever be in field", "Lays claim to for the lady at his side,", "And tilts with my good nephew thereupon,", "Who being apt at arms and big of bone", "Has ever won it for the lady with him,", "And toppling over all antagonism", "Has earned himself the name of sparrow-hawk.'", "But thou, that hast no lady, canst not fight.'", "", "To whom Geraint with eyes all bright replied,", "Leaning a little toward him, 'Thy leave!", "Let ME lay lance in rest, O noble host,", "For this dear child, because I never saw,", "Though having seen all beauties of our time,", "Nor can see elsewhere, anything so fair.", "And if I fall her name will yet remain", "Untarnished as before; but if I live,", "So aid me Heaven when at mine uttermost,", "As I will make her truly my true wife.'", "", "Then, howsoever patient, Yniol's heart", "Danced in his bosom, seeing better days,", "And looking round he saw not Enid there,", "(Who hearing her own name had stolen away)", "But that old dame, to whom full tenderly", "And folding all her hand in his he said,", "'Mother, a maiden is a tender thing,", "And best by her that bore her understood.", "Go thou to rest, but ere thou go to rest", "Tell her, and prove her heart toward the Prince.'", "", "So spake the kindly-hearted Earl, and she", "With frequent smile and nod departing found,", "Half disarrayed as to her rest, the girl;", "Whom first she kissed on either cheek, and then", "On either shining shoulder laid a hand,", "And kept her off and gazed upon her face,", "And told them all their converse in the hall,", "Proving her heart: but never light and shade", "Coursed one another more on open ground", "Beneath a troubled heaven, than red and pale", "Across the face of Enid hearing her;", "While slowly falling as a scale that falls,", "When weight is added only grain by grain,", "Sank her sweet head upon her gentle breast;", "Nor did she lift an eye nor speak a word,", "Rapt in the fear and in the wonder of it;", "So moving without answer to her rest", "She found no rest, and ever failed to draw", "The quiet night into her blood, but lay", "Contemplating her own unworthiness;", "And when the pale and bloodless east began", "To quicken to the sun, arose, and raised", "Her mother too, and hand in hand they moved", "Down to the meadow where the jousts were held,", "And waited there for Yniol and Geraint.", "", "And thither came the twain, and when Geraint", "Beheld her first in field, awaiting him,", "He felt, were she the prize of bodily force,", "Himself beyond the rest pushing could move", "The chair of Idris. Yniol's rusted arms", "Were on his princely person, but through these", "Princelike his bearing shone; and errant knights", "And ladies came, and by and by the town", "Flowed in, and settling circled all the lists.", "And there they fixt the forks into the ground,", "And over these they placed the silver wand,", "And over that the golden sparrow-hawk.", "Then Yniol's nephew, after trumpet blown,", "Spake to the lady with him and proclaimed,", "'Advance and take, as fairest of the fair,", "What I these two years past have won for thee,", "The prize of beauty.' Loudly spake the Prince,", "'Forbear: there is a worthier,' and the knight", "With some surprise and thrice as much disdain", "Turned, and beheld the four, and all his face", "Glowed like the heart of a great fire at Yule,", "So burnt he was with passion, crying out,", "'Do battle for it then,' no more; and thrice", "They clashed together, and thrice they brake their spears.", "Then each, dishorsed and drawing, lashed at each", "So often and with such blows, that all the crowd", "Wondered, and now and then from distant walls", "There came a clapping as of phantom hands.", "So twice they fought, and twice they breathed, and still", "The dew of their great labour, and the blood", "Of their strong bodies, flowing, drained their force.", "But either's force was matched till Yniol's cry,", "'Remember that great insult done the Queen,'", "Increased Geraint's, who heaved his blade aloft,", "And cracked the helmet through, and bit the bone,", "And felled him, and set foot upon his breast,", "And said, 'Thy name?' To whom the fallen man", "Made answer, groaning, 'Edyrn, son of Nudd!", "Ashamed am I that I should tell it thee.", "My pride is broken: men have seen my fall.'", "'Then, Edyrn, son of Nudd,' replied Geraint,", "'These two things shalt thou do, or else thou diest.", "First, thou thyself, with damsel and with dwarf,", "Shalt ride to Arthur's court, and coming there,", "Crave pardon for that insult done the Queen,", "And shalt abide her judgment on it; next,", "Thou shalt give back their earldom to thy kin.", "These two things shalt thou do, or thou shalt die.'", "And Edyrn answered, 'These things will I do,", "For I have never yet been overthrown,", "And thou hast overthrown me, and my pride", "Is broken down, for Enid sees my fall!'", "And rising up, he rode to Arthur's court,", "And there the Queen forgave him easily.", "And being young, he changed and came to loathe", "His crime of traitor, slowly drew himself", "Bright from his old dark life, and fell at last", "In the great battle fighting for the King.", "", "But when the third day from the hunting-morn", "Made a low splendour in the world, and wings", "Moved in her ivy, Enid, for she lay", "With her fair head in the dim-yellow light,", "Among the dancing shadows of the birds,", "Woke and bethought her of her promise given", "No later than last eve to Prince Geraint--", "So bent he seemed on going the third day,", "He would not leave her, till her promise given--", "To ride with him this morning to the court,", "And there be made known to the stately Queen,", "And there be wedded with all ceremony.", "At this she cast her eyes upon her dress,", "And thought it never yet had looked so mean.", "For as a leaf in mid-November is", "To what it is in mid-October, seemed", "The dress that now she looked on to the dress", "She looked on ere the coming of Geraint.", "And still she looked, and still the terror grew", "Of that strange bright and dreadful thing, a court,", "All staring at her in her faded silk:", "And softly to her own sweet heart she said:", "", "'This noble prince who won our earldom back,", "So splendid in his acts and his attire,", "Sweet heaven, how much I shall discredit him!", "Would he could tarry with us here awhile,", "But being so beholden to the Prince,", "It were but little grace in any of us,", "Bent as he seemed on going this third day,", "To seek a second favour at his hands.", "Yet if he could but tarry a day or two,", "Myself would work eye dim, and finger lame,", "Far liefer than so much discredit him.'", "", "And Enid fell in longing for a dress", "All branched and flowered with gold, a costly gift", "Of her good mother, given her on the night", "Before her birthday, three sad years ago,", "That night of fire, when Edyrn sacked their house,", "And scattered all they had to all the winds:", "For while the mother showed it, and the two", "Were turning and admiring it, the work", "To both appeared so costly, rose a cry", "That Edyrn's men were on them, and they fled", "With little save the jewels they had on,", "Which being sold and sold had bought them bread:", "And Edyrn's men had caught them in their flight,", "And placed them in this ruin; and she wished", "The Prince had found her in her ancient home;", "Then let her fancy flit across the past,", "And roam the goodly places that she knew;", "And last bethought her how she used to watch,", "Near that old home, a pool of golden carp;", "And one was patched and blurred and lustreless", "Among his burnished brethren of the pool;", "And half asleep she made comparison", "Of that and these to her own faded self", "And the gay court, and fell asleep again;", "And dreamt herself was such a faded form", "Among her burnished sisters of the pool;", "But this was in the garden of a king;", "And though she lay dark in the pool, she knew", "That all was bright; that all about were birds", "Of sunny plume in gilded trellis-work;", "That all the turf was rich in plots that looked", "Each like a garnet or a turkis in it;", "And lords and ladies of the high court went", "In silver tissue talking things of state;", "And children of the King in cloth of gold", "Glanced at the doors or gamboled down the walks;", "And while she thought 'They will not see me,' came", "A stately queen whose name was Guinevere,", "And all the children in their cloth of gold", "Ran to her, crying, 'If we have fish at all", "Let them be gold; and charge the gardeners now", "To pick the faded creature from the pool,", "And cast it on the mixen that it die.'", "And therewithal one came and seized on her,", "And Enid started waking, with her heart", "All overshadowed by the foolish dream,", "And lo! it was her mother grasping her", "To get her well awake; and in her hand", "A suit of bright apparel, which she laid", "Flat on the couch, and spoke exultingly:", "", "'See here, my child, how fresh the colours look,", "How fast they hold like colours of a shell", "That keeps the wear and polish of the wave.", "Why not? It never yet was worn, I trow:", "Look on it, child, and tell me if ye know it.'", "", "And Enid looked, but all confused at first,", "Could scarce divide it from her foolish dream:", "Then suddenly she knew it and rejoiced,", "And answered, 'Yea, I know it; your good gift,", "So sadly lost on that unhappy night;", "Your own good gift!' 'Yea, surely,' said the dame,", "'And gladly given again this happy morn.", "For when the jousts were ended yesterday,", "Went Yniol through the town, and everywhere", "He found the sack and plunder of our house", "All scattered through the houses of the town;", "And gave command that all which once was ours", "Should now be ours again: and yester-eve,", "While ye were talking sweetly with your Prince,", "Came one with this and laid it in my hand,", "For love or fear, or seeking favour of us,", "Because we have our earldom back again.", "And yester-eve I would not tell you of it,", "But kept it for a sweet surprise at morn.", "Yea, truly is it not a sweet surprise?", "For I myself unwillingly have worn", "My faded suit, as you, my child, have yours,", "And howsoever patient, Yniol his.", "Ah, dear, he took me from a goodly house,", "With store of rich apparel, sumptuous fare,", "And page, and maid, and squire, and seneschal,", "And pastime both of hawk and hound, and all", "That appertains to noble maintenance.", "Yea, and he brought me to a goodly house;", "But since our fortune swerved from sun to shade,", "And all through that young traitor, cruel need", "Constrained us, but a better time has come;", "So clothe yourself in this, that better fits", "Our mended fortunes and a Prince's bride:", "For though ye won the prize of fairest fair,", "And though I heard him call you fairest fair,", "Let never maiden think, however fair,", "She is not fairer in new clothes than old.", "And should some great court-lady say, the Prince", "Hath picked a ragged-robin from the hedge,", "And like a madman brought her to the court,", "Then were ye shamed, and, worse, might shame the Prince", "To whom we are beholden; but I know,", "That when my dear child is set forth at her best,", "That neither court nor country, though they sought", "Through all the provinces like those of old", "That lighted on Queen Esther, has her match.'", "", "Here ceased the kindly mother out of breath;", "And Enid listened brightening as she lay;", "Then, as the white and glittering star of morn", "Parts from a bank of snow, and by and by", "Slips into golden cloud, the maiden rose,", "And left her maiden couch, and robed herself,", "Helped by the mother's careful hand and eye,", "Without a mirror, in the gorgeous gown;", "Who, after, turned her daughter round, and said,", "She never yet had seen her half so fair;", "And called her like that maiden in the tale,", "Whom Gwydion made by glamour out of flowers", "And sweeter than the bride of Cassivelaun,", "Flur, for whose love the Roman Csar first", "Invaded Britain, 'But we beat him back,", "As this great Prince invaded us, and we,", "Not beat him back, but welcomed him with joy", "And I can scarcely ride with you to court,", "For old am I, and rough the ways and wild;", "But Yniol goes, and I full oft shall dream", "I see my princess as I see her now,", "Clothed with my gift, and gay among the gay.'", "", "But while the women thus rejoiced, Geraint", "Woke where he slept in the high hall, and called", "For Enid, and when Yniol made report", "Of that good mother making Enid gay", "In such apparel as might well beseem", "His princess, or indeed the stately Queen,", "He answered: 'Earl, entreat her by my love,", "Albeit I give no reason but my wish,", "That she ride with me in her faded silk.'", "Yniol with that hard message went; it fell", "Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn:", "For Enid, all abashed she knew not why,", "Dared not to glance at her good mother's face,", "But silently, in all obedience,", "Her mother silent too, nor helping her,", "Laid from her limbs the costly-broidered gift,", "And robed them in her ancient suit again,", "And so descended. Never man rejoiced", "More than Geraint to greet her thus attired;", "And glancing all at once as keenly at her", "As careful robins eye the delver's toil,", "Made her cheek burn and either eyelid fall,", "But rested with her sweet face satisfied;", "Then seeing cloud upon the mother's brow,", "Her by both hands she caught, and sweetly said,", "", "'O my new mother, be not wroth or grieved", "At thy new son, for my petition to her.", "When late I left Caerleon, our great Queen,", "In words whose echo lasts, they were so sweet,", "Made promise, that whatever bride I brought,", "Herself would clothe her like the sun in Heaven.", "Thereafter, when I reached this ruined hall,", "Beholding one so bright in dark estate,", "I vowed that could I gain her, our fair Queen,", "No hand but hers, should make your Enid burst", "Sunlike from cloud--and likewise thought perhaps,", "That service done so graciously would bind", "The two together; fain I would the two", "Should love each other: how can Enid find", "A nobler friend? Another thought was mine;", "I came among you here so suddenly,", "That though her gentle presence at the lists", "Might well have served for proof that I was loved,", "I doubted whether daughter's tenderness,", "Or easy nature, might not let itself", "Be moulded by your wishes for her weal;", "Or whether some false sense in her own self", "Of my contrasting brightness, overbore", "Her fancy dwelling in this dusky hall;", "And such a sense might make her long for court", "And all its perilous glories: and I thought,", "That could I someway prove such force in her", "Linked with such love for me, that at a word", "(No reason given her) she could cast aside", "A splendour dear to women, new to her,", "And therefore dearer; or if not so new,", "Yet therefore tenfold dearer by the power", "Of intermitted usage; then I felt", "That I could rest, a rock in ebbs and flows,", "Fixt on her faith. Now, therefore, I do rest,", "A prophet certain of my prophecy,", "That never shadow of mistrust can cross", "Between us. Grant me pardon for my thoughts:", "And for my strange petition I will make", "Amends hereafter by some gaudy-day,", "When your fair child shall wear your costly gift", "Beside your own warm hearth, with, on her knees,", "Who knows? another gift of the high God,", "Which, maybe, shall have learned to lisp you thanks.'", "", "He spoke: the mother smiled, but half in tears,", "Then brought a mantle down and wrapt her in it,", "And claspt and kissed her, and they rode away.", "", "Now thrice that morning Guinevere had climbed", "The giant tower, from whose high crest, they say,", "Men saw the goodly hills of Somerset,", "And white sails flying on the yellow sea;", "But not to goodly hill or yellow sea", "Looked the fair Queen, but up the vale of Usk,", "By the flat meadow, till she saw them come;", "And then descending met them at the gates,", "Embraced her with all welcome as a friend,", "And did her honour as the Prince's bride,", "And clothed her for her bridals like the sun;", "And all that week was old Caerleon gay,", "For by the hands of Dubric, the high saint,", "They twain were wedded with all ceremony.", "", "And this was on the last year's Whitsuntide.", "But Enid ever kept the faded silk,", "Remembering how first he came on her,", "Drest in that dress, and how he loved her in it,", "And all her foolish fears about the dress,", "And all his journey toward her, as himself", "Had told her, and their coming to the court.", "", "And now this morning when he said to her,", "'Put on your worst and meanest dress,' she found", "And took it, and arrayed herself therein." ], "linecount": "849" }, { "title": "Demeter And Persephone", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Faint as a climate-changing bird that flies", "All night across the darkness, and at dawn", "Falls on the threshold of her native land,", "And can no more, thou camest, O my child,", "Led upward by the God of ghosts and dreams,", "Who laid thee at Eleusis, dazed and dumb,", "With passing thro' at once from state to state,", "Until I brought thee hither, that the day,", "When here thy hands let fall the gather'd flower,", "Might break thro' clouded memories once again", "On thy lost self. A sudden nightingale", "Saw thee, and flash'd into a frolic of song", "And welcome; and a gleam as of the moon,", "When first she peers along the tremulous deep,", "Fled wavering o'er thy face, and chased away", "That shadow of a likeness to the king", "Of shadows, thy dark mate. Persephone!", "Queen of the dead no more -- my child! Thine eyes", "Again were human-godlike, and the Sun", "Burst from a swimming fleece of winter gray,", "And robed thee in his day from head to feet --", "\"Mother!\" and I was folded in thine arms.", "", "Child, those imperial, disimpassion'd eyes", "Awed even me at first, thy mother -- eyes", "That oft had seen the serpent-wanded power", "Draw downward into Hades with his drift", "Of fickering spectres, lighted from below", "By the red race of fiery Phlegethon;", "But when before have Gods or men beheld", "The Life that had descended re-arise,", "And lighted from above him by the Sun?", "So mighty was the mother's childless cry,", "A cry that ran thro' Hades, Earth, and Heaven!", "", "So in this pleasant vale we stand again,", "The field of Enna, now once more ablaze", "With flowers that brighten as thy footstep falls,", "All flowers -- but for one black blur of earth", "Left by that closing chasm, thro' which the car", "Of dark Aidoneus rising rapt thee hence.", "And here, my child, tho' folded in thine arms,", "I feel the deathless heart of motherhood", "Within me shudder, lest the naked glebe", "Should yawn once more into the gulf, and thence", "The shrilly whinnyings of the team of Hell,", "Ascending, pierce the glad and songful air,", "And all at once their arch'd necks, midnight-maned,", "Jet upward thro' the mid-day blossom. No!", "For, see, thy foot has touch'd it; all the space", "Of blank earth-baldness clothes itself afresh,", "And breaks into the crocus-purple hour", "That saw thee vanish.", "", "Child, when thou wert gone,", "I envied human wives, and nested birds,", "Yea, the cubb'd lioness; went in search of thee", "Thro' many a palace, many a cot, and gave", "Thy breast to ailing infants in the night,", "And set the mother waking in amaze", "To find her sick one whole; and forth again", "Among the wail of midnight winds, and cried,", "\"Where is my loved one? Wherefore do ye wail?\"", "And out from all the night an answer shrill'd,", "\"We know not, and we know not why we wail.\"", "I climb'd on all the cliffs of all the seas,", "And ask'd the waves that moan about the world", "\"Where? do ye make your moaning for my child?\"", "And round from all the world the voices came", "\"We know not, and we know not why we moan.\"", "\"Where?\" and I stared from every eagle-peak,", "I thridded the black heart of all the woods,", "I peer'd thro' tomb and cave, and in the storms", "Of Autumn swept across the city, and heard", "The murmur of their temples chanting me,", "Me, me, the desolate Mother! \"Where\"? -- and turn'd,", "And fled by many a waste, forlorn of man,", "And grieved for man thro' all my grief for thee, --", "The jungle rooted in his shatter'd hearth,", "The serpent coil'd about his broken shaft,", "The scorpion crawling over naked skulls; --", "I saw the tiger in the ruin'd fane", "Spring from his fallen God, but trace of thee", "I saw not; and far on, and, following out", "A league of labyrinthine darkness, came", "On three gray heads beneath a gleaming rift.", "\"Where\"? and I heard one voice from all the three", "\"We know not, for we spin the lives of men,", "And not of Gods, and know not why we spin!", "There is a Fate beyond us.\" Nothing knew.", "", "Last as the likeness of a dying man,", "Without his knowledge, from him flits to warn", "A far-off friendship that he comes no more,", "So he, the God of dreams, who heard my cry,", "Drew from thyself the likeness of thyself", "Without thy knowledge, and thy shadow past", "Before me, crying \"The Bright one in the highest", "Is brother of the Dark one in the lowest,", "And Bright and Dark have sworn that I, the child", "Of thee, the great Earth-Mother, thee, the Power", "That lifts her buried life from loom to bloom,", "Should be for ever and for evermore", "The Bride of Darkness.\"", "", "So the Shadow wail'd.", "Then I, Earth-Goddess, cursed the Gods of Heaven.", "I would not mingle with their feasts; to me", "Their nectar smack'd of hemlock on the lips,", "Their rich ambrosia tasted aconite.", "The man, that only lives and loves an hour,", "Seem'd nobler than their hard Eternities.", "My quick tears kill'd the flower, my ravings hush'd", "The bird, and lost in utter grief I fail'd", "To send my life thro' olive-yard and vine", "And golden grain, my gift to helpless man.", "Rain-rotten died the wheat, the barley-spears", "Were hollow-husk'd, the leaf fell, and the sun,", "Pale at my grief, drew down before his time", "Sickening, and Aetna kept her winter snow.", "Then He, the brother of this Darkness, He", "Who still is highest, glancing from his height", "On earth a fruitless fallow, when he miss'd", "The wonted steam of sacrifice, the praise", "And prayer of men, decreed that thou should'st dwell", "For nine white moons of each whole year with me,", "Three dark ones in the shadow with thy King.", "", "Once more the reaper in the gleam of dawn", "Will see me by the landmark far away,", "Blessing his field, or seated in the dusk", "Of even, by the lonely threshing-floor,", "Rejoicing in the harvest and the grange.", "Yet I, Earth-Goddess, am but ill-content", "With them, who still are highest. Those gray heads,", "What meant they by their \"Fate beyond the Fates\"", "But younger kindlier Gods to bear us down,", "As we bore down the Gods before us? Gods,", "To quench, not hurl the thunderbolt, to stay,", "Not spread the plague, the famine; Gods indeed,", "To send the noon into the night and break", "The sunless halls of Hades into Heaven?", "Till thy dark lord accept and love the Sun,", "And all the Shadow die into the Light,", "When thou shalt dwell the whole bright year with me,", "And souls of men, who grew beyond their race,", "And made themselves as Gods against the fear", "Of Death and Hell; and thou that hast from men,", "As Queen of Death, that worship which is Fear,", "Henceforth, as having risen from out the dead,", "Shalt ever send thy life along with mine", "From buried grain thro' springing blade, and bless", "Their garner'd Autumn also, reap with me,", "Earth-mother, in the harvest hymns of Earth", "The worship which is Love, and see no more", "The Stone, the Wheel, the dimly-glimmering lawns", "Of that Elysium, all the hateful fires", "Of torment, and the shadowy warrior glide", "Along the silent field of Asphodel." ], "linecount": "153" }, { "title": "Of Old Sat Freedom on the Heights", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Of old sat Freedom on the heights,", "The thunders breaking at her feet:", "Above her shook the starry lights:", "She heard the torrents meet.", "There in her place she did rejoice,", "Self-gather'd in her prophet-mind,", "But fragments of her mighty voice", "Came rolling on the wind.", "Then stept she down thro' town and field", "To mingle with the human race,", "And part by part to men reveal'd", "The fulness of her face--", "", "Grave mother of majestic works,", "From her isle-altar gazing down,", "Who, God-like, grasps the triple forks,", "And, King-like, wears the crown:", "", "Her open eyes desire the truth.", "The wisdom of a thousand years", "Is in them. May perpetual youth", "Keep dry their light from tears;", "", "That her fair form may stand and shine,", "Make bright our days and light our dreams,", "Turning to scorn with lips divine", "The falsehood of extremes!" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "In Memoriam 131: O Living Will That Shalt Endure", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "O living will that shalt endure", "When all that seems shall suffer shock,", "Rise in the spiritual rock,", "Flow thro' our deeds and make them pure,", "", "That we may lift from out of dust", "A voice as unto him that hears,", "A cry above the conquer'd years", "To one that with us works, and trust,", "", "With faith that comes of self-control,", "The truths that never can be proved", "Until we close with all we loved,", "And all we flow from, soul in soul.", "", "O true and tried, so well and long,", "Demand not thou a marriage lay;", "In that it is thy marriage day", "Is music more than any song.", "", "Nor have I felt so much of bliss", "Since first he told me that he loved", "A daughter of our house; nor proved", "Since that dark day a day like this;", "", "Tho' I since then have number'd o'er", "Some thrice three years: they went and came,", "Remade the blood and changed the frame,", "And yet is love not less, but more;", "", "No longer caring to embalm", "In dying songs a dead regret,", "But like a statue solid-set,", "And moulded in colossal calm.", "", "Regret is dead, but love is more", "Than in the summers that are flown,", "For I myself with these have grown", "To something greater than before;", "", "Which makes appear the songs I made", "As echoes out of weaker times,", "As half but idle brawling rhymes,", "The sport of random sun and shade.", "", "But where is she, the bridal flower,", "That must be made a wife ere noon?", "She enters, glowing like the moon", "Of Eden on its bridal bower:", "", "On me she bends her blissful eyes", "And then on thee; they meet thy look", "And brighten like the star that shook", "Betwixt the palms of paradise.", "", "O when her life was yet in bud,", "He too foretold the perfect rose.", "For thee she grew, for thee she grows", "For ever, and as fair as good.", "", "And thou art worthy; full of power;", "As gentle; liberal-minded, great,", "Consistent; wearing all that weight", "Of learning lightly like a flower.", "", "But now set out: the noon is near,", "And I must give away the bride;", "She fears not, or with thee beside", "And me behind her, will not fear.", "", "For I that danced her on my knee,", "That watch'd her on her nurse's arm,", "That shielded all her life from harm", "At last must part with her to thee;", "", "Now waiting to be made a wife,", "Her feet, my darling, on the dead;", "Their pensive tablets round her head,", "And the most living words of life", "", "Breathed in her ear. The ring is on,", "The \"wilt thou\" answer'd, and again", "The \"wilt thou\" ask'd, till out of twain", "Her sweet \"I will\" has made you one.", "", "Now sign your names, which shall be read,", "Mute symbols of a joyful morn,", "By village eyes as yet unborn;", "The names are sign'd, and overhead", "", "Begins the clash and clang that tells", "The joy to every wandering breeze;", "The blind wall rocks, and on the trees", "The dead leaf trembles to the bells.", "", "O happy hour, and happier hours", "Await them. Many a merry face", "Salutes them--maidens of the place,", "That pelt us in the porch with flowers.", "", "O happy hour, behold the bride", "With him to whom her hand I gave.", "They leave the porch, they pass the grave", "That has to-day its sunny side.", "", "To-day the grave is bright for me,", "For them the light of life increased,", "Who stay to share the morning feast,", "Who rest to-night beside the sea.", "", "Let all my genial spirits advance", "To meet and greet a whiter sun;", "My drooping memory will not shun", "The foaming grape of eastern France.", "", "It circles round, and fancy plays,", "And hearts are warm'd and faces bloom,", "As drinking health to bride and groom", "We wish them store of happy days.", "", "Nor count me all to blame if I", "Conjecture of a stiller guest,", "Perchance, perchance, among the rest,", "And, tho' in silence, wishing joy.", "", "But they must go, the time draws on,", "And those white-favour'd horses wait;", "They rise, but linger; it is late;", "Farewell, we kiss, and they are gone.", "", "A shade falls on us like the dark", "From little cloudlets on the grass,", "But sweeps away as out we pass", "To range the woods, to roam the park,", "", "Discussing how their courtship grew,", "And talk of others that are wed,", "And how she look'd, and what he said,", "And back we come at fall of dew.", "", "Again the feast, the speech, the glee,", "The shade of passing thought, the wealth", "Of words and wit, the double health,", "The crowning cup, the three-times-three,", "", "And last the dance,--till I retire:", "Dumb is that tower which spake so loud,", "And high in heaven the streaming cloud,", "And on the downs a rising fire:", "", "And rise, O moon, from yonder down,", "Till over down and over dale", "All night the shining vapour sail", "And pass the silent-lighted town,", "", "The white-faced halls, the glancing rills,", "And catch at every mountain head,", "And o'er the friths that branch and spread", "Their sleeping silver thro' the hills;", "", "And touch with shade the bridal doors,", "With tender gloom the roof, the wall;", "And breaking let the splendour fall", "To spangle all the happy shores", "", "By which they rest, and ocean sounds,", "And, star and system rolling past,", "A soul shall draw from out the vast", "And strike his being into bounds,", "", "And, moved thro' life of lower phase,", "Result in man, be born and think,", "And act and love, a closer link", "Betwixt us and the crowning race", "", "Of those that, eye to eye, shall look", "On knowledge; under whose command", "Is Earth and Earth's, and in their hand", "Is Nature like an open book;", "", "No longer half-akin to brute,", "For all we thought and loved and did,", "And hoped, and suffer'd, is but seed", "Of what in them is flower and fruit;", "", "Whereof the man, that with me trod", "This planet, was a noble type", "Appearing ere the times were ripe,", "That friend of mine who lives in God,", "", "That God, which ever lives and loves,", "One God, one law, one element,", "And one far-off divine event,", "To which the whole creation moves." ], "linecount": "156" }, { "title": "Gareth And Lynette", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "The last tall son of Lot and Bellicent,", "And tallest, Gareth, in a showerful spring", "Stared at the spate. A slender-shafted Pine", "Lost footing, fell, and so was whirled away.", "'How he went down,' said Gareth, 'as a false knight", "Or evil king before my lance if lance", "Were mine to use--O senseless cataract,", "Bearing all down in thy precipitancy--", "And yet thou art but swollen with cold snows", "And mine is living blood: thou dost His will,", "The Maker's, and not knowest, and I that know,", "Have strength and wit, in my good mother's hall", "Linger with vacillating obedience,", "Prisoned, and kept and coaxed and whistled to--", "Since the good mother holds me still a child!", "Good mother is bad mother unto me!", "A worse were better; yet no worse would I.", "Heaven yield her for it, but in me put force", "To weary her ears with one continuous prayer,", "Until she let me fly discaged to sweep", "In ever-highering eagle-circles up", "To the great Sun of Glory, and thence swoop", "Down upon all things base, and dash them dead,", "A knight of Arthur, working out his will,", "To cleanse the world. Why, Gawain, when he came", "With Modred hither in the summertime,", "Asked me to tilt with him, the proven knight.", "Modred for want of worthier was the judge.", "Then I so shook him in the saddle, he said,", "\"Thou hast half prevailed against me,\" said so--he--", "Though Modred biting his thin lips was mute,", "For he is alway sullen: what care I?'", "", "And Gareth went, and hovering round her chair", "Asked, 'Mother, though ye count me still the child,", "Sweet mother, do ye love the child?' She laughed,", "'Thou art but a wild-goose to question it.'", "'Then, mother, an ye love the child,' he said,", "'Being a goose and rather tame than wild,", "Hear the child's story.' 'Yea, my well-beloved,", "An 'twere but of the goose and golden eggs.'", "", "And Gareth answered her with kindling eyes,", "'Nay, nay, good mother, but this egg of mine", "Was finer gold than any goose can lay;", "For this an Eagle, a royal Eagle, laid", "Almost beyond eye-reach, on such a palm", "As glitters gilded in thy Book of Hours.", "And there was ever haunting round the palm", "A lusty youth, but poor, who often saw", "The splendour sparkling from aloft, and thought", "\"An I could climb and lay my hand upon it,", "Then were I wealthier than a leash of kings.\"", "But ever when he reached a hand to climb,", "One, that had loved him from his childhood, caught", "And stayed him, \"Climb not lest thou break thy neck,", "I charge thee by my love,\" and so the boy,", "Sweet mother, neither clomb, nor brake his neck,", "But brake his very heart in pining for it,", "And past away.'", "", "To whom the mother said,", "'True love, sweet son, had risked himself and climbed,", "And handed down the golden treasure to him.'", "", "And Gareth answered her with kindling eyes,", "'Gold?' said I gold?--ay then, why he, or she,", "Or whosoe'er it was, or half the world", "Had ventured--HAD the thing I spake of been", "Mere gold--but this was all of that true steel,", "Whereof they forged the brand Excalibur,", "And lightnings played about it in the storm,", "And all the little fowl were flurried at it,", "And there were cries and clashings in the nest,", "That sent him from his senses: let me go.'", "", "Then Bellicent bemoaned herself and said,", "'Hast thou no pity upon my loneliness?", "Lo, where thy father Lot beside the hearth", "Lies like a log, and all but smouldered out!", "For ever since when traitor to the King", "He fought against him in the Barons' war,", "And Arthur gave him back his territory,", "His age hath slowly droopt, and now lies there", "A yet-warm corpse, and yet unburiable,", "No more; nor sees, nor hears, nor speaks, nor knows.", "And both thy brethren are in Arthur's hall,", "Albeit neither loved with that full love", "I feel for thee, nor worthy such a love:", "Stay therefore thou; red berries charm the bird,", "And thee, mine innocent, the jousts, the wars,", "Who never knewest finger-ache, nor pang", "Of wrenched or broken limb--an often chance", "In those brain-stunning shocks, and tourney-falls,", "Frights to my heart; but stay: follow the deer", "By these tall firs and our fast-falling burns;", "So make thy manhood mightier day by day;", "Sweet is the chase: and I will seek thee out", "Some comfortable bride and fair, to grace", "Thy climbing life, and cherish my prone year,", "Till falling into Lot's forgetfulness", "I know not thee, myself, nor anything.", "Stay, my best son! ye are yet more boy than man.'", "", "Then Gareth, 'An ye hold me yet for child,", "Hear yet once more the story of the child.", "For, mother, there was once a King, like ours.", "The prince his heir, when tall and marriageable,", "Asked for a bride; and thereupon the King", "Set two before him. One was fair, strong, armed--", "But to be won by force--and many men", "Desired her; one good lack, no man desired.", "And these were the conditions of the King:", "That save he won the first by force, he needs", "Must wed that other, whom no man desired,", "A red-faced bride who knew herself so vile,", "That evermore she longed to hide herself,", "Nor fronted man or woman, eye to eye--", "Yea--some she cleaved to, but they died of her.", "And one--they called her Fame; and one,--O Mother,", "How can ye keep me tethered to you--Shame.", "Man am I grown, a man's work must I do.", "Follow the deer? follow the Christ, the King,", "Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King--", "Else, wherefore born?'", "", "To whom the mother said", "'Sweet son, for there be many who deem him not,", "Or will not deem him, wholly proven King--", "Albeit in mine own heart I knew him King,", "When I was frequent with him in my youth,", "And heard him Kingly speak, and doubted him", "No more than he, himself; but felt him mine,", "Of closest kin to me: yet--wilt thou leave", "Thine easeful biding here, and risk thine all,", "Life, limbs, for one that is not proven King?", "Stay, till the cloud that settles round his birth", "Hath lifted but a little. Stay, sweet son.'", "", "And Gareth answered quickly, 'Not an hour,", "So that ye yield me--I will walk through fire,", "Mother, to gain it--your full leave to go.", "Not proven, who swept the dust of ruined Rome", "From off the threshold of the realm, and crushed", "The Idolaters, and made the people free?", "Who should be King save him who makes us free?'", "", "So when the Queen, who long had sought in vain", "To break him from the intent to which he grew,", "Found her son's will unwaveringly one,", "She answered craftily, 'Will ye walk through fire?", "Who walks through fire will hardly heed the smoke.", "Ay, go then, an ye must: only one proof,", "Before thou ask the King to make thee knight,", "Of thine obedience and thy love to me,", "Thy mother,--I demand.", "", "And Gareth cried,", "'A hard one, or a hundred, so I go.", "Nay--quick! the proof to prove me to the quick!'", "", "But slowly spake the mother looking at him,", "'Prince, thou shalt go disguised to Arthur's hall,", "And hire thyself to serve for meats and drinks", "Among the scullions and the kitchen-knaves,", "And those that hand the dish across the bar.", "Nor shalt thou tell thy name to anyone.", "And thou shalt serve a twelvemonth and a day.'", "", "For so the Queen believed that when her son", "Beheld his only way to glory lead", "Low down through villain kitchen-vassalage,", "Her own true Gareth was too princely-proud", "To pass thereby; so should he rest with her,", "Closed in her castle from the sound of arms.", "", "Silent awhile was Gareth, then replied,", "'The thrall in person may be free in soul,", "And I shall see the jousts. Thy son am I,", "And since thou art my mother, must obey.", "I therefore yield me freely to thy will;", "For hence will I, disguised, and hire myself", "To serve with scullions and with kitchen-knaves;", "Nor tell my name to any--no, not the King.'", "", "Gareth awhile lingered. The mother's eye", "Full of the wistful fear that he would go,", "And turning toward him wheresoe'er he turned,", "Perplext his outward purpose, till an hour,", "When wakened by the wind which with full voice", "Swept bellowing through the darkness on to dawn,", "He rose, and out of slumber calling two", "That still had tended on him from his birth,", "Before the wakeful mother heard him, went.", "", "The three were clad like tillers of the soil.", "Southward they set their faces. The birds made", "Melody on branch, and melody in mid air.", "The damp hill-slopes were quickened into green,", "And the live green had kindled into flowers,", "For it was past the time of Easterday.", "", "So, when their feet were planted on the plain", "That broadened toward the base of Camelot,", "Far off they saw the silver-misty morn", "Rolling her smoke about the Royal mount,", "That rose between the forest and the field.", "At times the summit of the high city flashed;", "At times the spires and turrets half-way down", "Pricked through the mist; at times the great gate shone", "Only, that opened on the field below:", "Anon, the whole fair city had disappeared.", "", "Then those who went with Gareth were amazed,", "One crying, 'Let us go no further, lord.", "Here is a city of Enchanters, built", "By fairy Kings.' The second echoed him,", "'Lord, we have heard from our wise man at home", "To Northward, that this King is not the King,", "But only changeling out of Fairyland,", "Who drave the heathen hence by sorcery", "And Merlin's glamour.' Then the first again,", "'Lord, there is no such city anywhere,", "But all a vision.'", "", "Gareth answered them", "With laughter, swearing he had glamour enow", "In his own blood, his princedom, youth and hopes,", "To plunge old Merlin in the Arabian sea;", "So pushed them all unwilling toward the gate.", "And there was no gate like it under heaven.", "For barefoot on the keystone, which was lined", "And rippled like an ever-fleeting wave,", "The Lady of the Lake stood: all her dress", "Wept from her sides as water flowing away;", "But like the cross her great and goodly arms", "Stretched under the cornice and upheld:", "And drops of water fell from either hand;", "And down from one a sword was hung, from one", "A censer, either worn with wind and storm;", "And o'er her breast floated the sacred fish;", "And in the space to left of her, and right,", "Were Arthur's wars in weird devices done,", "New things and old co-twisted, as if Time", "Were nothing, so inveterately, that men", "Were giddy gazing there; and over all", "High on the top were those three Queens, the friends", "Of Arthur, who should help him at his need.", "", "Then those with Gareth for so long a space", "Stared at the figures, that at last it seemed", "The dragon-boughts and elvish emblemings", "Began to move, seethe, twine and curl: they called", "To Gareth, 'Lord, the gateway is alive.'", "", "And Gareth likewise on them fixt his eyes", "So long, that even to him they seemed to move.", "Out of the city a blast of music pealed.", "Back from the gate started the three, to whom", "From out thereunder came an ancient man,", "Long-bearded, saying, 'Who be ye, my sons?'", "", "Then Gareth, 'We be tillers of the soil,", "Who leaving share in furrow come to see", "The glories of our King: but these, my men,", "(Your city moved so weirdly in the mist)", "Doubt if the King be King at all, or come", "From Fairyland; and whether this be built", "By magic, and by fairy Kings and Queens;", "Or whether there be any city at all,", "Or all a vision: and this music now", "Hath scared them both, but tell thou these the truth.'", "", "Then that old Seer made answer playing on him", "And saying, 'Son, I have seen the good ship sail", "Keel upward, and mast downward, in the heavens,", "And solid turrets topsy-turvy in air:", "And here is truth; but an it please thee not,", "Take thou the truth as thou hast told it me.", "For truly as thou sayest, a Fairy King", "And Fairy Queens have built the city, son;", "They came from out a sacred mountain-cleft", "Toward the sunrise, each with harp in hand,", "And built it to the music of their harps.", "And, as thou sayest, it is enchanted, son,", "For there is nothing in it as it seems", "Saving the King; though some there be that hold", "The King a shadow, and the city real:", "Yet take thou heed of him, for, so thou pass", "Beneath this archway, then wilt thou become", "A thrall to his enchantments, for the King", "Will bind thee by such vows, as is a shame", "A man should not be bound by, yet the which", "No man can keep; but, so thou dread to swear,", "Pass not beneath this gateway, but abide", "Without, among the cattle of the field.", "For an ye heard a music, like enow", "They are building still, seeing the city is built", "To music, therefore never built at all,", "And therefore built for ever.'", "", "Gareth spake", "Angered, 'Old master, reverence thine own beard", "That looks as white as utter truth, and seems", "Wellnigh as long as thou art statured tall!", "Why mockest thou the stranger that hath been", "To thee fair-spoken?'", "", "But the Seer replied,", "'Know ye not then the Riddling of the Bards?", "\"Confusion, and illusion, and relation,", "Elusion, and occasion, and evasion\"?", "I mock thee not but as thou mockest me,", "And all that see thee, for thou art not who", "Thou seemest, but I know thee who thou art.", "And now thou goest up to mock the King,", "Who cannot brook the shadow of any lie.'", "", "Unmockingly the mocker ending here", "Turned to the right, and past along the plain;", "Whom Gareth looking after said, 'My men,", "Our one white lie sits like a little ghost", "Here on the threshold of our enterprise.", "Let love be blamed for it, not she, nor I:", "Well, we will make amends.'", "", "With all good cheer", "He spake and laughed, then entered with his twain", "Camelot, a city of shadowy palaces", "And stately, rich in emblem and the work", "Of ancient kings who did their days in stone;", "Which Merlin's hand, the Mage at Arthur's court,", "Knowing all arts, had touched, and everywhere", "At Arthur's ordinance, tipt with lessening peak", "And pinnacle, and had made it spire to heaven.", "And ever and anon a knight would pass", "Outward, or inward to the hall: his arms", "Clashed; and the sound was good to Gareth's ear.", "And out of bower and casement shyly glanced", "Eyes of pure women, wholesome stars of love;", "And all about a healthful people stept", "As in the presence of a gracious king.", "", "Then into hall Gareth ascending heard", "A voice, the voice of Arthur, and beheld", "Far over heads in that long-vaulted hall", "The splendour of the presence of the King", "Throned, and delivering doom--and looked no more--", "But felt his young heart hammering in his ears,", "And thought, 'For this half-shadow of a lie", "The truthful King will doom me when I speak.'", "Yet pressing on, though all in fear to find", "Sir Gawain or Sir Modred, saw nor one", "Nor other, but in all the listening eyes", "Of those tall knights, that ranged about the throne,", "Clear honour shining like the dewy star", "Of dawn, and faith in their great King, with pure", "Affection, and the light of victory,", "And glory gained, and evermore to gain.", "Then came a widow crying to the King,", "'A boon, Sir King! Thy father, Uther, reft", "From my dead lord a field with violence:", "For howsoe'er at first he proffered gold,", "Yet, for the field was pleasant in our eyes,", "We yielded not; and then he reft us of it", "Perforce, and left us neither gold nor field.'", "", "Said Arthur, 'Whether would ye? gold or field?'", "To whom the woman weeping, 'Nay, my lord,", "The field was pleasant in my husband's eye.'", "", "And Arthur, 'Have thy pleasant field again,", "And thrice the gold for Uther's use thereof,", "According to the years. No boon is here,", "But justice, so thy say be proven true.", "Accursed, who from the wrongs his father did", "Would shape himself a right!'", "", "And while she past,", "Came yet another widow crying to him,", "'A boon, Sir King! Thine enemy, King, am I.", "With thine own hand thou slewest my dear lord,", "A knight of Uther in the Barons' war,", "When Lot and many another rose and fought", "Against thee, saying thou wert basely born.", "I held with these, and loathe to ask thee aught.", "Yet lo! my husband's brother had my son", "Thralled in his castle, and hath starved him dead;", "And standeth seized of that inheritance", "Which thou that slewest the sire hast left the son.", "So though I scarce can ask it thee for hate,", "Grant me some knight to do the battle for me,", "Kill the foul thief, and wreak me for my son.'", "", "Then strode a good knight forward, crying to him,", "'A boon, Sir King! I am her kinsman, I.", "Give me to right her wrong, and slay the man.'", "", "Then came Sir Kay, the seneschal, and cried,", "'A boon, Sir King! even that thou grant her none,", "This railer, that hath mocked thee in full hall--", "None; or the wholesome boon of gyve and gag.'", "", "But Arthur, 'We sit King, to help the wronged", "Through all our realm. The woman loves her lord.", "Peace to thee, woman, with thy loves and hates!", "The kings of old had doomed thee to the flames,", "Aurelius Emrys would have scourged thee dead,", "And Uther slit thy tongue: but get thee hence--", "Lest that rough humour of the kings of old", "Return upon me! Thou that art her kin,", "Go likewise; lay him low and slay him not,", "But bring him here, that I may judge the right,", "According to the justice of the King:", "Then, be he guilty, by that deathless King", "Who lived and died for men, the man shall die.'", "", "Then came in hall the messenger of Mark,", "A name of evil savour in the land,", "The Cornish king. In either hand he bore", "What dazzled all, and shone far-off as shines", "A field of charlock in the sudden sun", "Between two showers, a cloth of palest gold,", "Which down he laid before the throne, and knelt,", "Delivering, that his lord, the vassal king,", "Was even upon his way to Camelot;", "For having heard that Arthur of his grace", "Had made his goodly cousin, Tristram, knight,", "And, for himself was of the greater state,", "Being a king, he trusted his liege-lord", "Would yield him this large honour all the more;", "So prayed him well to accept this cloth of gold,", "In token of true heart and felty.", "", "Then Arthur cried to rend the cloth, to rend", "In pieces, and so cast it on the hearth.", "An oak-tree smouldered there. 'The goodly knight!", "What! shall the shield of Mark stand among these?'", "For, midway down the side of that long hall", "A stately pile,--whereof along the front,", "Some blazoned, some but carven, and some blank,", "There ran a treble range of stony shields,--", "Rose, and high-arching overbrowed the hearth.", "And under every shield a knight was named:", "For this was Arthur's custom in his hall;", "When some good knight had done one noble deed,", "His arms were carven only; but if twain", "His arms were blazoned also; but if none,", "The shield was blank and bare without a sign", "Saving the name beneath; and Gareth saw", "The shield of Gawain blazoned rich and bright,", "And Modred's blank as death; and Arthur cried", "To rend the cloth and cast it on the hearth.", "", "'More like are we to reave him of his crown", "Than make him knight because men call him king.", "The kings we found, ye know we stayed their hands", "From war among themselves, but left them kings;", "Of whom were any bounteous, merciful,", "Truth-speaking, brave, good livers, them we enrolled", "Among us, and they sit within our hall.", "But as Mark hath tarnished the great name of king,", "As Mark would sully the low state of churl:", "And, seeing he hath sent us cloth of gold,", "Return, and meet, and hold him from our eyes,", "Lest we should lap him up in cloth of lead,", "Silenced for ever--craven--a man of plots,", "Craft, poisonous counsels, wayside ambushings--", "No fault of thine: let Kay the seneschal", "Look to thy wants, and send thee satisfied--", "Accursed, who strikes nor lets the hand be seen!'", "", "And many another suppliant crying came", "With noise of ravage wrought by beast and man,", "And evermore a knight would ride away.", "", "Last, Gareth leaning both hands heavily", "Down on the shoulders of the twain, his men,", "Approached between them toward the King, and asked,", "'A boon, Sir King (his voice was all ashamed),", "For see ye not how weak and hungerworn", "I seem--leaning on these? grant me to serve", "For meat and drink among thy kitchen-knaves", "A twelvemonth and a day, nor seek my name.", "Hereafter I will fight.'", "", "To him the King,", "'A goodly youth and worth a goodlier boon!", "But so thou wilt no goodlier, then must Kay,", "The master of the meats and drinks, be thine.'", "", "He rose and past; then Kay, a man of mien", "Wan-sallow as the plant that feels itself", "Root-bitten by white lichen,", "", "'Lo ye now!", "This fellow hath broken from some Abbey, where,", "God wot, he had not beef and brewis enow,", "However that might chance! but an he work,", "Like any pigeon will I cram his crop,", "And sleeker shall he shine than any hog.'", "", "Then Lancelot standing near, 'Sir Seneschal,", "Sleuth-hound thou knowest, and gray, and all the hounds;", "A horse thou knowest, a man thou dost not know:", "Broad brows and fair, a fluent hair and fine,", "High nose, a nostril large and fine, and hands", "Large, fair and fine!--Some young lad's mystery--", "But, or from sheepcot or king's hall, the boy", "Is noble-natured. Treat him with all grace,", "Lest he should come to shame thy judging of him.'", "", "Then Kay, 'What murmurest thou of mystery?", "Think ye this fellow will poison the King's dish?", "Nay, for he spake too fool-like: mystery!", "Tut, an the lad were noble, he had asked", "For horse and armour: fair and fine, forsooth!", "Sir Fine-face, Sir Fair-hands? but see thou to it", "That thine own fineness, Lancelot, some fine day", "Undo thee not--and leave my man to me.'", "", "So Gareth all for glory underwent", "The sooty yoke of kitchen-vassalage;", "Ate with young lads his portion by the door,", "And couched at night with grimy kitchen-knaves.", "And Lancelot ever spake him pleasantly,", "But Kay the seneschal, who loved him not,", "Would hustle and harry him, and labour him", "Beyond his comrade of the hearth, and set", "To turn the broach, draw water, or hew wood,", "Or grosser tasks; and Gareth bowed himself", "With all obedience to the King, and wrought", "All kind of service with a noble ease", "That graced the lowliest act in doing it.", "And when the thralls had talk among themselves,", "And one would praise the love that linkt the King", "And Lancelot--how the King had saved his life", "In battle twice, and Lancelot once the King's--", "For Lancelot was the first in Tournament,", "But Arthur mightiest on the battle-field--", "Gareth was glad. Or if some other told,", "How once the wandering forester at dawn,", "Far over the blue tarns and hazy seas,", "On Caer-Eryri's highest found the King,", "A naked babe, of whom the Prophet spake,", "'He passes to the Isle Avilion,", "He passes and is healed and cannot die'--", "Gareth was glad. But if their talk were foul,", "Then would he whistle rapid as any lark,", "Or carol some old roundelay, and so loud", "That first they mocked, but, after, reverenced him.", "Or Gareth telling some prodigious tale", "Of knights, who sliced a red life-bubbling way", "Through twenty folds of twisted dragon, held", "All in a gap-mouthed circle his good mates", "Lying or sitting round him, idle hands,", "Charmed; till Sir Kay, the seneschal, would come", "Blustering upon them, like a sudden wind", "Among dead leaves, and drive them all apart.", "Or when the thralls had sport among themselves,", "So there were any trial of mastery,", "He, by two yards in casting bar or stone", "Was counted best; and if there chanced a joust,", "So that Sir Kay nodded him leave to go,", "Would hurry thither, and when he saw the knights", "Clash like the coming and retiring wave,", "And the spear spring, and good horse reel, the boy", "Was half beyond himself for ecstasy.", "", "So for a month he wrought among the thralls;", "But in the weeks that followed, the good Queen,", "Repentant of the word she made him swear,", "And saddening in her childless castle, sent,", "Between the in-crescent and de-crescent moon,", "Arms for her son, and loosed him from his vow.", "", "This, Gareth hearing from a squire of Lot", "With whom he used to play at tourney once,", "When both were children, and in lonely haunts", "Would scratch a ragged oval on the sand,", "And each at either dash from either end--", "Shame never made girl redder than Gareth joy.", "He laughed; he sprang. 'Out of the smoke, at once", "I leap from Satan's foot to Peter's knee--", "These news be mine, none other's--nay, the King's--", "Descend into the city:' whereon he sought", "The King alone, and found, and told him all.", "", "'I have staggered thy strong Gawain in a tilt", "For pastime; yea, he said it: joust can I.", "Make me thy knight--in secret! let my name", "Be hidden, and give me the first quest, I spring", "Like flame from ashes.'", "", "Here the King's calm eye", "Fell on, and checked, and made him flush, and bow", "Lowly, to kiss his hand, who answered him,", "'Son, the good mother let me know thee here,", "And sent her wish that I would yield thee thine.", "Make thee my knight? my knights are sworn to vows", "Of utter hardihood, utter gentleness,", "And, loving, utter faithfulness in love,", "And uttermost obedience to the King.'", "", "Then Gareth, lightly springing from his knees,", "'My King, for hardihood I can promise thee.", "For uttermost obedience make demand", "Of whom ye gave me to, the Seneschal,", "No mellow master of the meats and drinks!", "And as for love, God wot, I love not yet,", "But love I shall, God willing.'", "", "And the King", "'Make thee my knight in secret? yea, but he,", "Our noblest brother, and our truest man,", "And one with me in all, he needs must know.'", "", "'Let Lancelot know, my King, let Lancelot know,", "Thy noblest and thy truest!'", "", "And the King--", "'But wherefore would ye men should wonder at you?", "Nay, rather for the sake of me, their King,", "And the deed's sake my knighthood do the deed,", "Than to be noised of.'", "", "Merrily Gareth asked,", "'Have I not earned my cake in baking of it?", "Let be my name until I make my name!", "My deeds will speak: it is but for a day.'", "So with a kindly hand on Gareth's arm", "Smiled the great King, and half-unwillingly", "Loving his lusty youthhood yielded to him.", "Then, after summoning Lancelot privily,", "'I have given him the first quest: he is not proven.", "Look therefore when he calls for this in hall,", "Thou get to horse and follow him far away.", "Cover the lions on thy shield, and see", "Far as thou mayest, he be nor ta'en nor slain.'", "", "Then that same day there past into the hall", "A damsel of high lineage, and a brow", "May-blossom, and a cheek of apple-blossom,", "Hawk-eyes; and lightly was her slender nose", "Tip-tilted like the petal of a flower;", "She into hall past with her page and cried,", "", "'O King, for thou hast driven the foe without,", "See to the foe within! bridge, ford, beset", "By bandits, everyone that owns a tower", "The Lord for half a league. Why sit ye there?", "Rest would I not, Sir King, an I were king,", "Till even the lonest hold were all as free", "From cursd bloodshed, as thine altar-cloth", "From that best blood it is a sin to spill.'", "", "'Comfort thyself,' said Arthur. 'I nor mine", "Rest: so my knighthood keep the vows they swore,", "The wastest moorland of our realm shall be", "Safe, damsel, as the centre of this hall.", "What is thy name? thy need?'", "", "'My name?' she said--", "'Lynette my name; noble; my need, a knight", "To combat for my sister, Lyonors,", "A lady of high lineage, of great lands,", "And comely, yea, and comelier than myself.", "She lives in Castle Perilous: a river", "Runs in three loops about her living-place;", "And o'er it are three passings, and three knights", "Defend the passings, brethren, and a fourth", "And of that four the mightiest, holds her stayed", "In her own castle, and so besieges her", "To break her will, and make her wed with him:", "And but delays his purport till thou send", "To do the battle with him, thy chief man", "Sir Lancelot whom he trusts to overthrow,", "Then wed, with glory: but she will not wed", "Save whom she loveth, or a holy life.", "Now therefore have I come for Lancelot.'", "", "Then Arthur mindful of Sir Gareth asked,", "'Damsel, ye know this Order lives to crush", "All wrongers of the Realm. But say, these four,", "Who be they? What the fashion of the men?'", "", "'They be of foolish fashion, O Sir King,", "The fashion of that old knight-errantry", "Who ride abroad, and do but what they will;", "Courteous or bestial from the moment, such", "As have nor law nor king; and three of these", "Proud in their fantasy call themselves the Day,", "Morning-Star, and Noon-Sun, and Evening-Star,", "Being strong fools; and never a whit more wise", "The fourth, who alway rideth armed in black,", "A huge man-beast of boundless savagery.", "He names himself the Night and oftener Death,", "And wears a helmet mounted with a skull,", "And bears a skeleton figured on his arms,", "To show that who may slay or scape the three,", "Slain by himself, shall enter endless night.", "And all these four be fools, but mighty men,", "And therefore am I come for Lancelot.'", "", "Hereat Sir Gareth called from where he rose,", "A head with kindling eyes above the throng,", "'A boon, Sir King--this quest!' then--for he marked", "Kay near him groaning like a wounded bull--", "'Yea, King, thou knowest thy kitchen-knave am I,", "And mighty through thy meats and drinks am I,", "And I can topple over a hundred such.", "Thy promise, King,' and Arthur glancing at him,", "Brought down a momentary brow. 'Rough, sudden,", "And pardonable, worthy to be knight--", "Go therefore,' and all hearers were amazed.", "", "But on the damsel's forehead shame, pride, wrath", "Slew the May-white: she lifted either arm,", "'Fie on thee, King! I asked for thy chief knight,", "And thou hast given me but a kitchen-knave.'", "Then ere a man in hall could stay her, turned,", "Fled down the lane of access to the King,", "Took horse, descended the slope street, and past", "The weird white gate, and paused without, beside", "The field of tourney, murmuring 'kitchen-knave.'", "", "Now two great entries opened from the hall,", "At one end one, that gave upon a range", "Of level pavement where the King would pace", "At sunrise, gazing over plain and wood;", "And down from this a lordly stairway sloped", "Till lost in blowing trees and tops of towers;", "And out by this main doorway past the King.", "But one was counter to the hearth, and rose", "High that the highest-crested helm could ride", "Therethrough nor graze: and by this entry fled", "The damsel in her wrath, and on to this", "Sir Gareth strode, and saw without the door", "King Arthur's gift, the worth of half a town,", "A warhorse of the best, and near it stood", "The two that out of north had followed him:", "This bare a maiden shield, a casque; that held", "The horse, the spear; whereat Sir Gareth loosed", "A cloak that dropt from collar-bone to heel,", "A cloth of roughest web, and cast it down,", "And from it like a fuel-smothered fire,", "That lookt half-dead, brake bright, and flashed as those", "Dull-coated things, that making slide apart", "Their dusk wing-cases, all beneath there burns", "A jewelled harness, ere they pass and fly.", "So Gareth ere he parted flashed in arms.", "Then as he donned the helm, and took the shield", "And mounted horse and graspt a spear, of grain", "Storm-strengthened on a windy site, and tipt", "With trenchant steel, around him slowly prest", "The people, while from out of kitchen came", "The thralls in throng, and seeing who had worked", "Lustier than any, and whom they could but love,", "Mounted in arms, threw up their caps and cried,", "'God bless the King, and all his fellowship!'", "And on through lanes of shouting Gareth rode", "Down the slope street, and past without the gate.", "", "So Gareth past with joy; but as the cur", "Pluckt from the cur he fights with, ere his cause", "Be cooled by fighting, follows, being named,", "His owner, but remembers all, and growls", "Remembering, so Sir Kay beside the door", "Muttered in scorn of Gareth whom he used", "To harry and hustle.", "", "'Bound upon a quest", "With horse and arms--the King hath past his time--", "My scullion knave! Thralls to your work again,", "For an your fire be low ye kindle mine!", "Will there be dawn in West and eve in East?", "Begone!--my knave!--belike and like enow", "Some old head-blow not heeded in his youth", "So shook his wits they wander in his prime--", "Crazed! How the villain lifted up his voice,", "Nor shamed to bawl himself a kitchen-knave.", "Tut: he was tame and meek enow with me,", "Till peacocked up with Lancelot's noticing.", "Well--I will after my loud knave, and learn", "Whether he know me for his master yet.", "Out of the smoke he came, and so my lance", "Hold, by God's grace, he shall into the mire--", "Thence, if the King awaken from his craze,", "Into the smoke again.'", "", "But Lancelot said,", "'Kay, wherefore wilt thou go against the King,", "For that did never he whereon ye rail,", "But ever meekly served the King in thee?", "Abide: take counsel; for this lad is great", "And lusty, and knowing both of lance and sword.'", "'Tut, tell not me,' said Kay, 'ye are overfine", "To mar stout knaves with foolish courtesies:'", "Then mounted, on through silent faces rode", "Down the slope city, and out beyond the gate.", "", "But by the field of tourney lingering yet", "Muttered the damsel, 'Wherefore did the King", "Scorn me? for, were Sir Lancelot lackt, at least", "He might have yielded to me one of those", "Who tilt for lady's love and glory here,", "Rather than--O sweet heaven! O fie upon him--", "His kitchen-knave.'", "", "To whom Sir Gareth drew", "(And there were none but few goodlier than he)", "Shining in arms, 'Damsel, the quest is mine.", "Lead, and I follow.' She thereat, as one", "That smells a foul-fleshed agaric in the holt,", "And deems it carrion of some woodland thing,", "Or shrew, or weasel, nipt her slender nose", "With petulant thumb and finger, shrilling, 'Hence!", "Avoid, thou smellest all of kitchen-grease.", "And look who comes behind,' for there was Kay.", "'Knowest thou not me? thy master? I am Kay.", "We lack thee by the hearth.'", "", "And Gareth to him,", "'Master no more! too well I know thee, ay--", "The most ungentle knight in Arthur's hall.'", "'Have at thee then,' said Kay: they shocked, and Kay", "Fell shoulder-slipt, and Gareth cried again,", "'Lead, and I follow,' and fast away she fled.", "", "But after sod and shingle ceased to fly", "Behind her, and the heart of her good horse", "Was nigh to burst with violence of the beat,", "Perforce she stayed, and overtaken spoke.", "", "'What doest thou, scullion, in my fellowship?", "Deem'st thou that I accept thee aught the more", "Or love thee better, that by some device", "Full cowardly, or by mere unhappiness,", "Thou hast overthrown and slain thy master--thou!--", "Dish-washer and broach-turner, loon!--to me", "Thou smellest all of kitchen as before.'", "", "'Damsel,' Sir Gareth answered gently, 'say", "Whate'er ye will, but whatsoe'er ye say,", "I leave not till I finish this fair quest,", "Or die therefore.'", "", "'Ay, wilt thou finish it?", "Sweet lord, how like a noble knight he talks!", "The listening rogue hath caught the manner of it.", "But, knave, anon thou shalt be met with, knave,", "And then by such a one that thou for all", "The kitchen brewis that was ever supt", "Shalt not once dare to look him in the face.'", "", "'I shall assay,' said Gareth with a smile", "That maddened her, and away she flashed again", "Down the long avenues of a boundless wood,", "And Gareth following was again beknaved.", "", "'Sir Kitchen-knave, I have missed the only way", "Where Arthur's men are set along the wood;", "The wood is nigh as full of thieves as leaves:", "If both be slain, I am rid of thee; but yet,", "Sir Scullion, canst thou use that spit of thine?", "Fight, an thou canst: I have missed the only way.'", "", "So till the dusk that followed evensong", "Rode on the two, reviler and reviled;", "Then after one long slope was mounted, saw,", "Bowl-shaped, through tops of many thousand pines", "A gloomy-gladed hollow slowly sink", "To westward--in the deeps whereof a mere,", "Round as the red eye of an Eagle-owl,", "Under the half-dead sunset glared; and shouts", "Ascended, and there brake a servingman", "Flying from out of the black wood, and crying,", "'They have bound my lord to cast him in the mere.'", "Then Gareth, 'Bound am I to right the wronged,", "But straitlier bound am I to bide with thee.'", "And when the damsel spake contemptuously,", "'Lead, and I follow,' Gareth cried again,", "'Follow, I lead!' so down among the pines", "He plunged; and there, blackshadowed nigh the mere,", "And mid-thigh-deep in bulrushes and reed,", "Saw six tall men haling a seventh along,", "A stone about his neck to drown him in it.", "Three with good blows he quieted, but three", "Fled through the pines; and Gareth loosed the stone", "From off his neck, then in the mere beside", "Tumbled it; oilily bubbled up the mere.", "Last, Gareth loosed his bonds and on free feet", "Set him, a stalwart Baron, Arthur's friend.", "", "'Well that ye came, or else these caitiff rogues", "Had wreaked themselves on me; good cause is theirs", "To hate me, for my wont hath ever been", "To catch my thief, and then like vermin here", "Drown him, and with a stone about his neck;", "And under this wan water many of them", "Lie rotting, but at night let go the stone,", "And rise, and flickering in a grimly light", "Dance on the mere. Good now, ye have saved a life", "Worth somewhat as the cleanser of this wood.", "And fain would I reward thee worshipfully.", "What guerdon will ye?'", "Gareth sharply spake,", "'None! for the deed's sake have I done the deed,", "In uttermost obedience to the King.", "But wilt thou yield this damsel harbourage?'", "", "Whereat the Baron saying, 'I well believe", "You be of Arthur's Table,' a light laugh", "Broke from Lynette, 'Ay, truly of a truth,", "And in a sort, being Arthur's kitchen-knave!--", "But deem not I accept thee aught the more,", "Scullion, for running sharply with thy spit", "Down on a rout of craven foresters.", "A thresher with his flail had scattered them.", "Nay--for thou smellest of the kitchen still.", "But an this lord will yield us harbourage,", "Well.'", "", "So she spake. A league beyond the wood,", "All in a full-fair manor and a rich,", "His towers where that day a feast had been", "Held in high hall, and many a viand left,", "And many a costly cate, received the three.", "And there they placed a peacock in his pride", "Before the damsel, and the Baron set", "Gareth beside her, but at once she rose.", "", "'Meseems, that here is much discourtesy,", "Setting this knave, Lord Baron, at my side.", "Hear me--this morn I stood in Arthur's hall,", "And prayed the King would grant me Lancelot", "To fight the brotherhood of Day and Night--", "The last a monster unsubduable", "Of any save of him for whom I called--", "Suddenly bawls this frontless kitchen-knave,", "\"The quest is mine; thy kitchen-knave am I,", "And mighty through thy meats and drinks am I.\"", "Then Arthur all at once gone mad replies,", "\"Go therefore,\" and so gives the quest to him--", "Him--here--a villain fitter to stick swine", "Than ride abroad redressing women's wrong,", "Or sit beside a noble gentlewoman.'", "", "Then half-ashamed and part-amazed, the lord", "Now looked at one and now at other, left", "The damsel by the peacock in his pride,", "And, seating Gareth at another board,", "Sat down beside him, ate and then began.", "", "'Friend, whether thou be kitchen-knave, or not,", "Or whether it be the maiden's fantasy,", "And whether she be mad, or else the King,", "Or both or neither, or thyself be mad,", "I ask not: but thou strikest a strong stroke,", "For strong thou art and goodly therewithal,", "And saver of my life; and therefore now,", "For here be mighty men to joust with, weigh", "Whether thou wilt not with thy damsel back", "To crave again Sir Lancelot of the King.", "Thy pardon; I but speak for thine avail,", "The saver of my life.'", "", "And Gareth said,", "'Full pardon, but I follow up the quest,", "Despite of Day and Night and Death and Hell.'", "", "So when, next morn, the lord whose life he saved", "Had, some brief space, conveyed them on their way", "And left them with God-speed, Sir Gareth spake,", "'Lead, and I follow.' Haughtily she replied.", "", "'I fly no more: I allow thee for an hour.", "Lion and stout have isled together, knave,", "In time of flood. Nay, furthermore, methinks", "Some ruth is mine for thee. Back wilt thou, fool?", "For hard by here is one will overthrow", "And slay thee: then will I to court again,", "And shame the King for only yielding me", "My champion from the ashes of his hearth.'", "", "To whom Sir Gareth answered courteously,", "'Say thou thy say, and I will do my deed.", "Allow me for mine hour, and thou wilt find", "My fortunes all as fair as hers who lay", "Among the ashes and wedded the King's son.'", "", "Then to the shore of one of those long loops", "Wherethrough the serpent river coiled, they came.", "Rough-thicketed were the banks and steep; the stream", "Full, narrow; this a bridge of single arc", "Took at a leap; and on the further side", "Arose a silk pavilion, gay with gold", "In streaks and rays, and all Lent-lily in hue,", "Save that the dome was purple, and above,", "Crimson, a slender banneret fluttering.", "And therebefore the lawless warrior paced", "Unarmed, and calling, 'Damsel, is this he,", "The champion thou hast brought from Arthur's hall?", "For whom we let thee pass.' 'Nay, nay,' she said,", "'Sir Morning-Star. The King in utter scorn", "Of thee and thy much folly hath sent thee here", "His kitchen-knave: and look thou to thyself:", "See that he fall not on thee suddenly,", "And slay thee unarmed: he is not knight but knave.'", "", "Then at his call, 'O daughters of the Dawn,", "And servants of the Morning-Star, approach,", "Arm me,' from out the silken curtain-folds", "Bare-footed and bare-headed three fair girls", "In gilt and rosy raiment came: their feet", "In dewy grasses glistened; and the hair", "All over glanced with dewdrop or with gem", "Like sparkles in the stone Avanturine.", "These armed him in blue arms, and gave a shield", "Blue also, and thereon the morning star.", "And Gareth silent gazed upon the knight,", "Who stood a moment, ere his horse was brought,", "Glorying; and in the stream beneath him, shone", "Immingled with Heaven's azure waveringly,", "The gay pavilion and the naked feet,", "His arms, the rosy raiment, and the star.", "", "Then she that watched him, 'Wherefore stare ye so?", "Thou shakest in thy fear: there yet is time:", "Flee down the valley before he get to horse.", "Who will cry shame? Thou art not knight but knave.'", "", "Said Gareth, 'Damsel, whether knave or knight,", "Far liefer had I fight a score of times", "Than hear thee so missay me and revile.", "Fair words were best for him who fights for thee;", "But truly foul are better, for they send", "That strength of anger through mine arms, I know", "That I shall overthrow him.'", "", "And he that bore", "The star, when mounted, cried from o'er the bridge,", "'A kitchen-knave, and sent in scorn of me!", "Such fight not I, but answer scorn with scorn.", "For this were shame to do him further wrong", "Than set him on his feet, and take his horse", "And arms, and so return him to the King.", "Come, therefore, leave thy lady lightly, knave.", "Avoid: for it beseemeth not a knave", "To ride with such a lady.'", "", "'Dog, thou liest.", "I spring from loftier lineage than thine own.'", "He spake; and all at fiery speed the two", "Shocked on the central bridge, and either spear", "Bent but not brake, and either knight at once,", "Hurled as a stone from out of a catapult", "Beyond his horse's crupper and the bridge,", "Fell, as if dead; but quickly rose and drew,", "And Gareth lashed so fiercely with his brand", "He drave his enemy backward down the bridge,", "The damsel crying, 'Well-stricken, kitchen-knave!'", "Till Gareth's shield was cloven; but one stroke", "Laid him that clove it grovelling on the ground.", "", "Then cried the fallen, 'Take not my life: I yield.'", "And Gareth, 'So this damsel ask it of me", "Good--I accord it easily as a grace.'", "She reddening, 'Insolent scullion: I of thee?", "I bound to thee for any favour asked!'", "'Then he shall die.' And Gareth there unlaced", "His helmet as to slay him, but she shrieked,", "'Be not so hardy, scullion, as to slay", "One nobler than thyself.' 'Damsel, thy charge", "Is an abounding pleasure to me. Knight,", "Thy life is thine at her command. Arise", "And quickly pass to Arthur's hall, and say", "His kitchen-knave hath sent thee. See thou crave", "His pardon for thy breaking of his laws.", "Myself, when I return, will plead for thee.", "Thy shield is mine--farewell; and, damsel, thou,", "Lead, and I follow.'", "", "And fast away she fled.", "Then when he came upon her, spake, 'Methought,", "Knave, when I watched thee striking on the bridge", "The savour of thy kitchen came upon me", "A little faintlier: but the wind hath changed:", "I scent it twenty-fold.' And then she sang,", "'\"O morning star\" (not that tall felon there", "Whom thou by sorcery or unhappiness", "Or some device, hast foully overthrown),", "\"O morning star that smilest in the blue,", "O star, my morning dream hath proven true,", "Smile sweetly, thou! my love hath smiled on me.\"", "", "'But thou begone, take counsel, and away,", "For hard by here is one that guards a ford--", "The second brother in their fool's parable--", "Will pay thee all thy wages, and to boot.", "Care not for shame: thou art not knight but knave.'", "", "To whom Sir Gareth answered, laughingly,", "'Parables? Hear a parable of the knave.", "When I was kitchen-knave among the rest", "Fierce was the hearth, and one of my co-mates", "Owned a rough dog, to whom he cast his coat,", "\"Guard it,\" and there was none to meddle with it.", "And such a coat art thou, and thee the King", "Gave me to guard, and such a dog am I,", "To worry, and not to flee--and--knight or knave--", "The knave that doth thee service as full knight", "Is all as good, meseems, as any knight", "Toward thy sister's freeing.'", "", "'Ay, Sir Knave!", "Ay, knave, because thou strikest as a knight,", "Being but knave, I hate thee all the more.'", "", "'Fair damsel, you should worship me the more,", "That, being but knave, I throw thine enemies.'", "", "'Ay, ay,' she said, 'but thou shalt meet thy match.'", "", "So when they touched the second river-loop,", "Huge on a huge red horse, and all in mail", "Burnished to blinding, shone the Noonday Sun", "Beyond a raging shallow. As if the flower,", "That blows a globe of after arrowlets,", "Ten thousand-fold had grown, flashed the fierce shield,", "All sun; and Gareth's eyes had flying blots", "Before them when he turned from watching him.", "He from beyond the roaring shallow roared,", "'What doest thou, brother, in my marches here?'", "And she athwart the shallow shrilled again,", "'Here is a kitchen-knave from Arthur's hall", "Hath overthrown thy brother, and hath his arms.'", "'Ugh!' cried the Sun, and vizoring up a red", "And cipher face of rounded foolishness,", "Pushed horse across the foamings of the ford,", "Whom Gareth met midstream: no room was there", "For lance or tourney-skill: four strokes they struck", "With sword, and these were mighty; the new knight", "Had fear he might be shamed; but as the Sun", "Heaved up a ponderous arm to strike the fifth,", "The hoof of his horse slipt in the stream, the stream", "Descended, and the Sun was washed away.", "", "Then Gareth laid his lance athwart the ford;", "So drew him home; but he that fought no more,", "As being all bone-battered on the rock,", "Yielded; and Gareth sent him to the King,", "'Myself when I return will plead for thee.'", "'Lead, and I follow.' Quietly she led.", "'Hath not the good wind, damsel, changed again?'", "'Nay, not a point: nor art thou victor here.", "There lies a ridge of slate across the ford;", "His horse thereon stumbled--ay, for I saw it.", "", "'\"O Sun\" (not this strong fool whom thou, Sir Knave,", "Hast overthrown through mere unhappiness),", "\"O Sun, that wakenest all to bliss or pain,", "O moon, that layest all to sleep again,", "Shine sweetly: twice my love hath smiled on me.\"", "", "What knowest thou of lovesong or of love?", "Nay, nay, God wot, so thou wert nobly born,", "Thou hast a pleasant presence. Yea, perchance,--", "", "'\"O dewy flowers that open to the sun,", "O dewy flowers that close when day is done,", "Blow sweetly: twice my love hath smiled on me.\"", "", "'What knowest thou of flowers, except, belike,", "To garnish meats with? hath not our good King", "Who lent me thee, the flower of kitchendom,", "A foolish love for flowers? what stick ye round", "The pasty? wherewithal deck the boar's head?", "Flowers? nay, the boar hath rosemaries and bay.", "", "'\"O birds, that warble to the morning sky,", "O birds that warble as the day goes by,", "Sing sweetly: twice my love hath smiled on me.\"", "", "'What knowest thou of birds, lark, mavis, merle,", "Linnet? what dream ye when they utter forth", "May-music growing with the growing light,", "Their sweet sun-worship? these be for the snare", "(So runs thy fancy) these be for the spit,", "Larding and basting. See thou have not now", "Larded thy last, except thou turn and fly.", "There stands the third fool of their allegory.'", "", "For there beyond a bridge of treble bow,", "All in a rose-red from the west, and all", "Naked it seemed, and glowing in the broad", "Deep-dimpled current underneath, the knight,", "That named himself the Star of Evening, stood.", "", "And Gareth, 'Wherefore waits the madman there", "Naked in open dayshine?' 'Nay,' she cried,", "'Not naked, only wrapt in hardened skins", "That fit him like his own; and so ye cleave", "His armour off him, these will turn the blade.'", "", "Then the third brother shouted o'er the bridge,", "'O brother-star, why shine ye here so low?", "Thy ward is higher up: but have ye slain", "The damsel's champion?' and the damsel cried,", "", "'No star of thine, but shot from Arthur's heaven", "With all disaster unto thine and thee!", "For both thy younger brethren have gone down", "Before this youth; and so wilt thou, Sir Star;", "Art thou not old?'", "'Old, damsel, old and hard,", "Old, with the might and breath of twenty boys.'", "Said Gareth, 'Old, and over-bold in brag!", "But that same strength which threw the Morning Star", "Can throw the Evening.'", "", "Then that other blew", "A hard and deadly note upon the horn.", "'Approach and arm me!' With slow steps from out", "An old storm-beaten, russet, many-stained", "Pavilion, forth a grizzled damsel came,", "And armed him in old arms, and brought a helm", "With but a drying evergreen for crest,", "And gave a shield whereon the Star of Even", "Half-tarnished and half-bright, his emblem, shone.", "But when it glittered o'er the saddle-bow,", "They madly hurled together on the bridge;", "And Gareth overthrew him, lighted, drew,", "There met him drawn, and overthrew him again,", "But up like fire he started: and as oft", "As Gareth brought him grovelling on his knees,", "So many a time he vaulted up again;", "Till Gareth panted hard, and his great heart,", "Foredooming all his trouble was in vain,", "Laboured within him, for he seemed as one", "That all in later, sadder age begins", "To war against ill uses of a life,", "But these from all his life arise, and cry,", "'Thou hast made us lords, and canst not put us down!'", "He half despairs; so Gareth seemed to strike", "Vainly, the damsel clamouring all the while,", "'Well done, knave-knight, well-stricken, O good knight-knave--", "O knave, as noble as any of all the knights--", "Shame me not, shame me not. I have prophesied--", "Strike, thou art worthy of the Table Round--", "His arms are old, he trusts the hardened skin--", "Strike--strike--the wind will never change again.'", "And Gareth hearing ever stronglier smote,", "And hewed great pieces of his armour off him,", "But lashed in vain against the hardened skin,", "And could not wholly bring him under, more", "Than loud Southwesterns, rolling ridge on ridge,", "The buoy that rides at sea, and dips and springs", "For ever; till at length Sir Gareth's brand", "Clashed his, and brake it utterly to the hilt.", "'I have thee now;' but forth that other sprang,", "And, all unknightlike, writhed his wiry arms", "Around him, till he felt, despite his mail,", "Strangled, but straining even his uttermost", "Cast, and so hurled him headlong o'er the bridge", "Down to the river, sink or swim, and cried,", "'Lead, and I follow.'", "", "But the damsel said,", "'I lead no longer; ride thou at my side;", "Thou art the kingliest of all kitchen-knaves.", "", "'\"O trefoil, sparkling on the rainy plain,", "O rainbow with three colours after rain,", "Shine sweetly: thrice my love hath smiled on me.\"", "", "'Sir,--and, good faith, I fain had added--Knight,", "But that I heard thee call thyself a knave,--", "Shamed am I that I so rebuked, reviled,", "Missaid thee; noble I am; and thought the King", "Scorned me and mine; and now thy pardon, friend,", "For thou hast ever answered courteously,", "And wholly bold thou art, and meek withal", "As any of Arthur's best, but, being knave,", "Hast mazed my wit: I marvel what thou art.'", "", "'Damsel,' he said, 'you be not all to blame,", "Saving that you mistrusted our good King", "Would handle scorn, or yield you, asking, one", "Not fit to cope your quest. You said your say;", "Mine answer was my deed. Good sooth! I hold", "He scarce is knight, yea but half-man, nor meet", "To fight for gentle damsel, he, who lets", "His heart be stirred with any foolish heat", "At any gentle damsel's waywardness.", "Shamed? care not! thy foul sayings fought for me:", "And seeing now thy words are fair, methinks", "There rides no knight, not Lancelot, his great self,", "Hath force to quell me.'", "Nigh upon that hour", "When the lone hern forgets his melancholy,", "Lets down his other leg, and stretching, dreams", "Of goodly supper in the distant pool,", "Then turned the noble damsel smiling at him,", "And told him of a cavern hard at hand,", "Where bread and baken meats and good red wine", "Of Southland, which the Lady Lyonors", "Had sent her coming champion, waited him.", "", "Anon they past a narrow comb wherein", "Where slabs of rock with figures, knights on horse", "Sculptured, and deckt in slowly-waning hues.", "'Sir Knave, my knight, a hermit once was here,", "Whose holy hand hath fashioned on the rock", "The war of Time against the soul of man.", "And yon four fools have sucked their allegory", "From these damp walls, and taken but the form.", "Know ye not these?' and Gareth lookt and read--", "In letters like to those the vexillary", "Hath left crag-carven o'er the streaming Gelt--", "'PHOSPHORUS,' then 'MERIDIES'--'HESPERUS'--", "'NOX'--'MORS,' beneath five figures, armd men,", "Slab after slab, their faces forward all,", "And running down the Soul, a Shape that fled", "With broken wings, torn raiment and loose hair,", "For help and shelter to the hermit's cave.", "'Follow the faces, and we find it. Look,", "Who comes behind?'", "", "For one--delayed at first", "Through helping back the dislocated Kay", "To Camelot, then by what thereafter chanced,", "The damsel's headlong error through the wood--", "Sir Lancelot, having swum the river-loops--", "His blue shield-lions covered--softly drew", "Behind the twain, and when he saw the star", "Gleam, on Sir Gareth's turning to him, cried,", "'Stay, felon knight, I avenge me for my friend.'", "And Gareth crying pricked against the cry;", "But when they closed--in a moment--at one touch", "Of that skilled spear, the wonder of the world--", "Went sliding down so easily, and fell,", "That when he found the grass within his hands", "He laughed; the laughter jarred upon Lynette:", "Harshly she asked him, 'Shamed and overthrown,", "And tumbled back into the kitchen-knave,", "Why laugh ye? that ye blew your boast in vain?'", "'Nay, noble damsel, but that I, the son", "Of old King Lot and good Queen Bellicent,", "And victor of the bridges and the ford,", "And knight of Arthur, here lie thrown by whom", "I know not, all through mere unhappiness--", "Device and sorcery and unhappiness--", "Out, sword; we are thrown!' And Lancelot answered, 'Prince,", "O Gareth--through the mere unhappiness", "Of one who came to help thee, not to harm,", "Lancelot, and all as glad to find thee whole,", "As on the day when Arthur knighted him.'", "", "Then Gareth, 'Thou--Lancelot!--thine the hand", "That threw me? An some chance to mar the boast", "Thy brethren of thee make--which could not chance--", "Had sent thee down before a lesser spear,", "Shamed had I been, and sad--O Lancelot--thou!'", "", "Whereat the maiden, petulant, 'Lancelot,", "Why came ye not, when called? and wherefore now", "Come ye, not called? I gloried in my knave,", "Who being still rebuked, would answer still", "Courteous as any knight--but now, if knight,", "The marvel dies, and leaves me fooled and tricked,", "And only wondering wherefore played upon:", "And doubtful whether I and mine be scorned.", "Where should be truth if not in Arthur's hall,", "In Arthur's presence? Knight, knave, prince and fool,", "I hate thee and for ever.'", "", "And Lancelot said,", "'Blessd be thou, Sir Gareth! knight art thou", "To the King's best wish. O damsel, be you wise", "To call him shamed, who is but overthrown?", "Thrown have I been, nor once, but many a time.", "Victor from vanquished issues at the last,", "And overthrower from being overthrown.", "With sword we have not striven; and thy good horse", "And thou are weary; yet not less I felt", "Thy manhood through that wearied lance of thine.", "Well hast thou done; for all the stream is freed,", "And thou hast wreaked his justice on his foes,", "And when reviled, hast answered graciously,", "And makest merry when overthrown. Prince, Knight", "Hail, Knight and Prince, and of our Table Round!'", "", "And then when turning to Lynette he told", "The tale of Gareth, petulantly she said,", "'Ay well--ay well--for worse than being fooled", "Of others, is to fool one's self. A cave,", "Sir Lancelot, is hard by, with meats and drinks", "And forage for the horse, and flint for fire.", "But all about it flies a honeysuckle.", "Seek, till we find.' And when they sought and found,", "Sir Gareth drank and ate, and all his life", "Past into sleep; on whom the maiden gazed.", "'Sound sleep be thine! sound cause to sleep hast thou.", "Wake lusty! Seem I not as tender to him", "As any mother? Ay, but such a one", "As all day long hath rated at her child,", "And vext his day, but blesses him asleep--", "Good lord, how sweetly smells the honeysuckle", "In the hushed night, as if the world were one", "Of utter peace, and love, and gentleness!", "O Lancelot, Lancelot'--and she clapt her hands--", "'Full merry am I to find my goodly knave", "Is knight and noble. See now, sworn have I,", "Else yon black felon had not let me pass,", "To bring thee back to do the battle with him.", "Thus an thou goest, he will fight thee first;", "Who doubts thee victor? so will my knight-knave", "Miss the full flower of this accomplishment.'", "", "Said Lancelot, 'Peradventure he, you name,", "May know my shield. Let Gareth, an he will,", "Change his for mine, and take my charger, fresh,", "Not to be spurred, loving the battle as well", "As he that rides him.' 'Lancelot-like,' she said,", "'Courteous in this, Lord Lancelot, as in all.'", "", "And Gareth, wakening, fiercely clutched the shield;", "'Ramp ye lance-splintering lions, on whom all spears", "Are rotten sticks! ye seem agape to roar!", "Yea, ramp and roar at leaving of your lord!--", "Care not, good beasts, so well I care for you.", "O noble Lancelot, from my hold on these", "Streams virtue--fire--through one that will not shame", "Even the shadow of Lancelot under shield.", "Hence: let us go.'", "", "Silent the silent field", "They traversed. Arthur's harp though summer-wan,", "In counter motion to the clouds, allured", "The glance of Gareth dreaming on his liege.", "A star shot: 'Lo,' said Gareth, 'the foe falls!'", "An owl whoopt: 'Hark the victor pealing there!'", "Suddenly she that rode upon his left", "Clung to the shield that Lancelot lent him, crying,", "'Yield, yield him this again: 'tis he must fight:", "I curse the tongue that all through yesterday", "Reviled thee, and hath wrought on Lancelot now", "To lend thee horse and shield: wonders ye have done;", "Miracles ye cannot: here is glory enow", "In having flung the three: I see thee maimed,", "Mangled: I swear thou canst not fling the fourth.'", "", "'And wherefore, damsel? tell me all ye know.", "You cannot scare me; nor rough face, or voice,", "Brute bulk of limb, or boundless savagery", "Appal me from the quest.'", "", "'Nay, Prince,' she cried,", "'God wot, I never looked upon the face,", "Seeing he never rides abroad by day;", "But watched him have I like a phantom pass", "Chilling the night: nor have I heard the voice.", "Always he made his mouthpiece of a page", "Who came and went, and still reported him", "As closing in himself the strength of ten,", "And when his anger tare him, massacring", "Man, woman, lad and girl--yea, the soft babe!", "Some hold that he hath swallowed infant flesh,", "Monster! O Prince, I went for Lancelot first,", "The quest is Lancelot's: give him back the shield.'", "", "Said Gareth laughing, 'An he fight for this,", "Belike he wins it as the better man:", "Thus--and not else!'", "", "But Lancelot on him urged", "All the devisings of their chivalry", "When one might meet a mightier than himself;", "How best to manage horse, lance, sword and shield,", "And so fill up the gap where force might fail", "With skill and fineness. Instant were his words.", "", "Then Gareth, 'Here be rules. I know but one--", "To dash against mine enemy and win.", "Yet have I seen thee victor in the joust,", "And seen thy way.' 'Heaven help thee,' sighed Lynette.", "", "Then for a space, and under cloud that grew", "To thunder-gloom palling all stars, they rode", "In converse till she made her palfrey halt,", "Lifted an arm, and softly whispered, 'There.'", "And all the three were silent seeing, pitched", "Beside the Castle Perilous on flat field,", "A huge pavilion like a mountain peak", "Sunder the glooming crimson on the marge,", "Black, with black banner, and a long black horn", "Beside it hanging; which Sir Gareth graspt,", "And so, before the two could hinder him,", "Sent all his heart and breath through all the horn.", "Echoed the walls; a light twinkled; anon", "Came lights and lights, and once again he blew;", "Whereon were hollow tramplings up and down", "And muffled voices heard, and shadows past;", "Till high above him, circled with her maids,", "The Lady Lyonors at a window stood,", "Beautiful among lights, and waving to him", "White hands, and courtesy; but when the Prince", "Three times had blown--after long hush--at last--", "The huge pavilion slowly yielded up,", "Through those black foldings, that which housed therein.", "High on a nightblack horse, in nightblack arms,", "With white breast-bone, and barren ribs of Death,", "And crowned with fleshless laughter--some ten steps--", "In the half-light--through the dim dawn--advanced", "The monster, and then paused, and spake no word.", "", "But Gareth spake and all indignantly,", "'Fool, for thou hast, men say, the strength of ten,", "Canst thou not trust the limbs thy God hath given,", "But must, to make the terror of thee more,", "Trick thyself out in ghastly imageries", "Of that which Life hath done with, and the clod,", "Less dull than thou, will hide with mantling flowers", "As if for pity?' But he spake no word;", "Which set the horror higher: a maiden swooned;", "The Lady Lyonors wrung her hands and wept,", "As doomed to be the bride of Night and Death;", "Sir Gareth's head prickled beneath his helm;", "And even Sir Lancelot through his warm blood felt", "Ice strike, and all that marked him were aghast.", "", "At once Sir Lancelot's charger fiercely neighed,", "And Death's dark war-horse bounded forward with him.", "Then those that did not blink the terror, saw", "That Death was cast to ground, and slowly rose.", "But with one stroke Sir Gareth split the skull.", "Half fell to right and half to left and lay.", "Then with a stronger buffet he clove the helm", "As throughly as the skull; and out from this", "Issued the bright face of a blooming boy", "Fresh as a flower new-born, and crying, 'Knight,", "Slay me not: my three brethren bad me do it,", "To make a horror all about the house,", "And stay the world from Lady Lyonors.", "They never dreamed the passes would be past.'", "Answered Sir Gareth graciously to one", "Not many a moon his younger, 'My fair child,", "What madness made thee challenge the chief knight", "Of Arthur's hall?' 'Fair Sir, they bad me do it.", "They hate the King, and Lancelot, the King's friend,", "They hoped to slay him somewhere on the stream,", "They never dreamed the passes could be past.'", "", "Then sprang the happier day from underground;", "And Lady Lyonors and her house, with dance", "And revel and song, made merry over Death,", "As being after all their foolish fears", "And horrors only proven a blooming boy.", "So large mirth lived and Gareth won the quest.", "", "And he that told the tale in older times", "Says that Sir Gareth wedded Lyonors,", "But he, that told it later, says Lynette." ], "linecount": "1430" }, { "title": "To E. Fitzgerald: Tiresias", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "OLD FITZ, who from your suburb grange,", "Where once I tarried for a while,", "Glance at the wheeling orb of change,", "And greet it with a kindly smile;", "Whom yet I see as there you sit", "Beneath your sheltering garden-tree,", "And watch your doves about you flit,", "And plant on shoulder, hand, and knee,", "Or on your head their rosy feet,", "As if they knew your diet spares", "Whatever moved in that full sheet", "Let down to Peter at his prayers;", "Who live on milk and meal and grass;", "And once for ten long weeks I tried", "Your table of Pythagoras,", "- And seem'd at first \"a thing enskied,\"", "As Shakespeare has it, airy-light", "To float above the ways of men,", "Then fell from that half-spiritual height", "Chill'd, till I tasted flesh again", "One night when earth was winter-b]ack,", "And all the heavens flash'd in frost;", "And on me, half-asleep, came back", "That wholesome heat the blood had lost,", "And set me climbing icy capes", "And glaciers, over which there roll'd", "To meet me long-arm'd vines with grapes", "Of Eshcol hugeness- for the cold", "Without, and warmth within me, wrought", "To mould the dream; but none can say", "That Lenten fare makes Lenten thought", "Who reads your golden Eastern lay,", "Than which I know no version done", "In English more divinely well;", "A planet equal to the sun", "Which cast it, that large infidel", "Your Omar, and your Omar drew", "Full-handed plaudits from our best", "In modern letters, and from two,", "Old friends outvaluing all the rest,", "Two voices heard on earth no more;", "But we old friends are still alive,", "And I am nearing seventy-four,", "While you have touch'd at seventy-five,", "And so I send a birthday line", "Of greeting; and my son, who dipt", "In some forgotten book of mine", "With sallow scraps of manuscript,", "And dating many a year ago,", "Has hit on this, which you will take,", "My Fitz, and welcome, as I know,", "Less for its own than for the sake", "Of one recalling gracious times,", "When, in our younger London days,", "You found some merit in my rhymes,", "And I more pleasure in your praise.", "", "TIRESIAS", "", "I WISH I were as in the years of old", "While yet the blessed daylight made itself", "Ruddy thro' both the roofs of sight, and woke", "These eyes, now dull, but then so keen to seek", "The meanings ambush'd under all they saw,", "The flight of birds, the flame of sacrifice,", "What omens may foreshadow fate to man", "And woman, and the secret of the Gods.", "My son, the Gods, despite of human prayer,", "Are slower to forgive than human kings.", "The great God Ares burns in anger still", "", "Against the guiltless heirs of him from Tyre", "Our Cadmus, out of whom thou art, who found", "Beside the springs of Dirce, smote, and still'd", "Thro' all its folds the multitudinous beast", "The dragon, which our trembling fathers call'd", "The God's own son.", "A tale, that told to me,", "When but thine age, by age as winter-white", "As mine is now, amazed, but made me yearn", "For larger glimpses of that more than man", "Which rolls the heavens, and lifts and lays the deep,", "Yet loves and hates with mortal hates and loves,", "And moves unseen among the ways of men.", "Then, in my wanderings all the lands that lie", "Subjected to the Heliconian ridge", "Have heard this footstep fall, altho' my wont", "Was more to scale the highest of the heights", "With some strange hope to see the nearer God.", "One naked peak‹the sister of the Sun", "Would climb from out the dark, and linger there", "", "", "To silver all the valleys with her shafts‹", "There once, but long ago, five-fold thy term", "Of years, I lay; the winds were dead for heat-", "The noonday crag made the hand burn; and sick", "For shadow‹not one bush was near‹I rose", "Following a torrent till its myriad falls", "Found silence in the hollows underneath.", "There in a secret olive-glade I saw", "Pallas Athene climbing from the bath", "In anger; yet one glittering foot disturb'd", "The lucid well; one snowy knee was prest", "Against the margin flowers; a dreadful light", "Came from her golden hair, her golden helm", "And all her golden armor on the grass,", "And from her virgin breast, and virgin eyes", "Remaining fixt on mine, till mine grew dark", "For ever, and I heard a voice that said", "\"Henceforth be blind, for thou hast seen too much,", "And speak the truth that no man may believe.\"", "Son, in the hidden world of sight that lives", "Behind this darkness, I behold her still", "Beyond all work of those who carve the stone", "Beyond all dreams of Godlike womanhood,", "Ineffable beauty, out of whom, at a glance", "And as it were, perforce, upon me flash'd", "The power of prophesying‹but to me", "No power so chain'd and coupled with the curse", "Of blindness and their unbelief who heard", "And heard not, when I spake of famine, plague", "Shrine-shattering earthquake, fire, flood, thunderbolt,", "And angers of the Gods for evil done", "And expiation lack'd‹no power on Fate", "Theirs, or mine own! for when the crowd would roar", "For blood, for war, whose issue was their doom,", "To cast wise words among the multitude", "Was fiinging fruit to lions; nor, in hours", "Of civil outbreak, when I knew the twain", "Would each waste each, and bring on both the yoke", "Of stronger states, was mine the voice to curb", "The madness of our cities and their kings.", "Who ever turn'd upon his heel to hear", "My warning that the tyranny of one", "Was prelude to the tyranny of all?", "My counsel that the tyranny of all", "Led backward to the tyranny of one?", "This power hath work'd no good to aught that lives", "And these blind hands were useless in their wars.", "O. therefore, that the unfulfill'd desire,", "The grief for ever born from griefs to be", "The boundless yearning of the prophet's heart‹", "Could that stand forth, and like a statue, rear'd", "To some great citizen, wim all praise from all", "Who past it, saying, \"That was he!\"", "In vain!", "Virtue must shape itself im deed, and those", "Whom weakness or necessity have cramp'd", "Withm themselves, immerging, each, his urn", "In his own well, draws solace as he may.", "Menceceus, thou hast eyes, and I can hear", "Too plainly what full tides of onset sap", "Our seven high gates, and what a weight of war", "Rides on those ringing axlesl jingle of bits,", "Shouts, arrows, tramp of the horn-footed horse", "That grind the glebe to powder! Stony showers", "Of that ear-stunning hail of Ares crash", "Along the sounding walls. Above, below", "Shock after shock, the song-built towers and gates", "Reel, bruised and butted with the shuddering", "War-thunder of iron rams; and from within", "The city comes a murmur void of joy,", "Lest she be taken captive‹maidens, wives,", "And mothers with their babblers of the dawn,", "And oldest age in shadow from the night,", "Falling about their shrines before their Gods,", "And wailing, \"Save us.\"", "", "And they wail to thee!", "These eyeless eyes, that cannot see thine own,", "See this, that only in thy virtue lies", "The saving of our Thebes; for, yesternight,", "To me, the great God Ares, whose one bliss", "Is war and human sacrifice‹himself", "Blood-red from battle, spear and helmet tipt", "With stormy light as on a mast at sea,", "Stood out before a darkness, crying, \"Thebes,", "Thy Thebes shall fall and perish, for I loathe", "The seed of Cadmus‹yet if one of these", "By his own hand‹if one of these‹\"", "My son, No sound is breathed so potent to coerce,", "And to conciliate, as their names who dare", "For that sweet mother land which gave them birth", "Nobly to do, nobly to die. Their names,", "Graven on memorial columns, are a song", "Heard in the future; few, but more than wall", "And rampart, their examples reach a hand", "Far thro' all years, and everywhere they meet", "And kindle generous purpose, and the strength", "To mould it into action pure as theirs.", "Fairer thy fate than mine, if life's best end", "Be to end well! and thou refusing this,", "Unvenerable will thy memory be", "While men shall move the lips; but if thou dare‹", "Thou, one of these, the race of Cadmus‹then", "No stone is fitted in yon marble girth", "Whose echo shall not tongue thy glorious doom,", "Nor in this pavement but shall ring thy name", "To every hoof that clangs it, and the springs", "Of Dirce laving yonder battle-plain,", "Heard from the roofs by night, will murmur thee", "To thine own Thebes, while Thebes thro' thee shall stand", "Firm-based with all her Gods.", "The Dragon's cave", "Half hid, they tell me, now in flowing vines‹", "Where once he dwelt and whence he roll'd himself", "At dead of night‹thou knowest, and that smooth rock", "Before it, altar-fashion'd, where of late", "The woman-breasted Sphinx, with wings drawn back", "Folded her lion paws, and look'd to Thebes.", "There blanch the bones of whom she slew, and these", "Mixt with her own, because the fierce beast found", "A wiser than herself, and dash'd herself", "Dead in her rage; but thou art wise enough", "Tho' young, to love thy wiser, blunt the curse", "Of Pallas, bear, and tho' I speak the truth", "Believe I speak it, let thine own hand strike", "Thy youthful pulses into rest and quench", "The red God's anger, fearing not to plunge", "Thy torch of life in darkness, rather thou", "Rejoicing that the sun, the moon, the stars", "Send no such light upon the ways of men", "As one great deed.", "Thither, my son, and there", "Thou, that hast never known the embrace of love", "Offer thy maiden life.", "This useless hand!", "I felt one warm tear fall upon it. Gone!", "He will achieve his greatness.", "But for me I would that I were gather'd to my rest,", "And mingled with the famous kings of old", "On whom about their ocean-islets flash", "The faces of the Gods‹the wise man's word", "Here trampled by the populace underfoot", "There crown'd with worship and these eyes will find", "The men I knew, and watch the chariot whirl", "About the goal again, and hunters race", "The shadowy lion, and the warrior-kings", "In height and prowess more than human, strive", "Again for glory, while the golden lyre", "Is ever sounding in heroic ears", "Heroic hymns, and every way the vales", "Wind, clouded with the grateful incense-fume", "Of those who mix all odor to the Gods", "On one far height in one far-shining fire.", "", "-------------------------", "", "\"One height and one far-shining fire!\"", "And while I fancied that my friend", "For this brief idyll would require", "A less diffuse and opulent end,", "And would defend his judgment well,", "If I should deem it over nice‹", "The tolling of his funeral bell", "Broke on my Pagan Paradise,", "And mixt the dream of classic times,", "And all the phantoms of the dream,", "With present grief, and made the rhymes,", "That miss'd his living welcome, seem", "Like would-be guests an hour too late,", "Who down the highway moving on", "With easy laughter find the gate", "Is bolted, and the master gone.", "Gone onto darkness, that full light", "Of friendship! past, in sleep, away", "By night, into the deeper night!", "The deeper night? A clearer day", "Than our poor twilight dawn on earth‹", "If night, what barren toil to be!", "What life, so maim'd by night, were worth", "Our living out? Not mine to me", "Remembering all the golden hours", "Now silent, and so many dead,", "And him the last; and laying flowers,", "This wreath, above his honor'd head,", "And praying that, when I from hence", "Shall fade with him into the unknown,", "My close of earth's experience", "May prove as peaceful as his own." ], "linecount": "273" }, { "title": "A Farewell", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea,", " Thy tribute wave deliver:", "No more by thee my steps shall be,", " For ever and for ever.", "", "Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea,", " A rivulet then a river:", "Nowhere by thee my steps shall be", " For ever and for ever.", "", "But here will sigh thine alder tree", " And here thine aspen shiver;", "And here by thee will hum the bee,", " For ever and for ever.", "", "A thousand suns will stream on thee,", " A thousand moons will quiver;", "But not by thee my steps shall be,", " For ever and for ever." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Cradle Song", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "What does little birdie say", "In her nest at peep of day?", "Let me fly, says little birdie,", "Mother, let me fly away.", "Birdie, rest a little longer,", "Till thy little wings are stronger.", "So she rests a little longer,", "Then she flies away.", "", "What does little baby say,", "In her bed at peep of day?", "Baby says, like little birdie,", "Let me rise and fly away.", "Baby, sleep a little longer,", "Till thy little limbs are stronger.", "If she sleeps a little longer,", "Baby too shall fly away." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Home they brought her warrior dead:", "She nor swooned, nor uttered cry:", "All her maidens, watching, said,", "‘She must weep or she will die.’", "", "Then they praised him, soft and low,", "Called 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.’" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "O Beauty, Passing Beauty!", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "O beauty, passing beauty! Sweetest sweet!", "How can thou let me waste my youth in sighs?", "I only ask to sit beside thy feet.", "Thou knowest I dare not look into thine eyes.", "Might I but kiss thy hand! I dare not fold", "My arms about thee--scarcely dare to speak.", "And nothing seems to me so wild and bold,", "As with one kiss to touch thy blessed cheek.", "Methinks if I should kiss thee, no control", "Within the thrilling brain could keep afloat", "The subtle spirit. Even while I spoke,", "The bare word \"kiss\" hath made my inner soul", "To tremble like a lute string, ere the note", "Hath melted in the silence that it broke." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Balin and Balan", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Pellam the King, who held and lost with Lot", "In that first war, and had his realm restored", "But rendered tributary, failed of late", "To send his tribute; wherefore Arthur called", "His treasurer, one of many years, and spake,", "'Go thou with him and him and bring it to us,", "Lest we should set one truer on his throne.", "Man's word is God in man.'", "His Baron said", "'We go but harken: there be two strange knights", "", "Who sit near Camelot at a fountain-side,", "A mile beneath the forest, challenging", "And overthrowing every knight who comes.", "Wilt thou I undertake them as we pass,", "And send them to thee?'", "Arthur laughed upon him.", "'Old friend, too old to be so young, depart,", "Delay not thou for aught, but let them sit,", "Until they find a lustier than themselves.'", "", "So these departed. Early, one fair dawn,", "The light-winged spirit of his youth returned", "On Arthur's heart; he armed himself and went,", "So coming to the fountain-side beheld", "Balin and Balan sitting statuelike,", "Brethren, to right and left the spring, that down,", "From underneath a plume of lady-fern,", "Sang, and the sand danced at the bottom of it.", "And on the right of Balin Balin's horse", "Was fast beside an alder, on the left", "Of Balan Balan's near a poplartree.", "'Fair Sirs,' said Arthur, 'wherefore sit ye here?'", "Balin and Balan answered 'For the sake", "Of glory; we be mightier men than all", "In Arthur's court; that also have we proved;", "For whatsoever knight against us came", "Or I or he have easily overthrown.'", "'I too,' said Arthur, 'am of Arthur's hall,", "But rather proven in his Paynim wars", "Than famous jousts; but see, or proven or not,", "Whether me likewise ye can overthrow.'", "And Arthur lightly smote the brethren down,", "And lightly so returned, and no man knew.", "", "Then Balin rose, and Balan, and beside", "The carolling water set themselves again,", "And spake no word until the shadow turned;", "When from the fringe of coppice round them burst", "A spangled pursuivant, and crying 'Sirs,", "Rise, follow! ye be sent for by the King,'", "They followed; whom when Arthur seeing asked", "'Tell me your names; why sat ye by the well?'", "Balin the stillness of a minute broke", "Saying 'An unmelodious name to thee,", "Balin, \"the Savage\"--that addition thine--", "My brother and my better, this man here,", "Balan. I smote upon the naked skull", "A thrall of thine in open hall, my hand", "Was gauntleted, half slew him; for I heard", "He had spoken evil of me; thy just wrath", "Sent me a three-years' exile from thine eyes.", "I have not lived my life delightsomely:", "For I that did that violence to thy thrall,", "Had often wrought some fury on myself,", "Saving for Balan: those three kingless years", "Have past--were wormwood-bitter to me. King,", "Methought that if we sat beside the well,", "And hurled to ground what knight soever spurred", "Against us, thou would'st take me gladlier back,", "And make, as ten-times worthier to be thine", "Than twenty Balins, Balan knight. I have said.", "Not so--not all. A man of thine today", "Abashed us both, and brake my boast. Thy will?'", "Said Arthur 'Thou hast ever spoken truth;", "Thy too fierce manhood would not let thee lie.", "Rise, my true knight. As children learn, be thou", "Wiser for falling! walk with me, and move", "To music with thine Order and the King.", "Thy chair, a grief to all the brethren, stands", "Vacant, but thou retake it, mine again!'", "", "Thereafter, when Sir Balin entered hall,", "The Lost one Found was greeted as in Heaven", "With joy that blazed itself in woodland wealth", "Of leaf, and gayest garlandage of flowers,", "Along the walls and down the board; they sat,", "And cup clashed cup; they drank and some one sang,", "Sweet-voiced, a song of welcome, whereupon", "Their common shout in chorus, mounting, made", "Those banners of twelve battles overhead", "Stir, as they stirred of old, when Arthur's host", "Proclaimed him Victor, and the day was won.", "", "Then Balan added to their Order lived", "A wealthier life than heretofore with these", "And Balin, till their embassage returned.", "", "'Sir King' they brought report 'we hardly found,", "So bushed about it is with gloom, the hall", "Of him to whom ye sent us, Pellam, once", "A Christless foe of thine as ever dashed", "Horse against horse; but seeing that thy realm", "Hath prospered in the name of Christ, the King", "Took, as in rival heat, to holy things;", "And finds himself descended from the Saint", "Arimathan Joseph; him who first", "Brought the great faith to Britain over seas;", "He boasts his life as purer than thine own;", "Eats scarce enow to keep his pulse abeat;", "Hath pushed aside his faithful wife, nor lets", "Or dame or damsel enter at his gates", "Lest he should be polluted. This gray King", "Showed us a shrine wherein were wonders--yea--", "Rich arks with priceless bones of martyrdom,", "Thorns of the crown and shivers of the cross,", "And therewithal (for thus he told us) brought", "By holy Joseph thither, that same spear", "Wherewith the Roman pierced the side of Christ.", "He much amazed us; after, when we sought", "The tribute, answered \"I have quite foregone", "All matters of this world: Garlon, mine heir,", "Of him demand it,\" which this Garlon gave", "With much ado, railing at thine and thee.", "", "'But when we left, in those deep woods we found", "A knight of thine spear-stricken from behind,", "Dead, whom we buried; more than one of us", "Cried out on Garlon, but a woodman there", "Reported of some demon in the woods", "Was once a man, who driven by evil tongues", "From all his fellows, lived alone, and came", "To learn black magic, and to hate his kind", "With such a hate, that when he died, his soul", "Became a Fiend, which, as the man in life", "Was wounded by blind tongues he saw not whence,", "Strikes from behind. This woodman showed the cave", "From which he sallies, and wherein he dwelt.", "We saw the hoof-print of a horse, no more.'", "", "Then Arthur, 'Let who goes before me, see", "He do not fall behind me: foully slain", "And villainously! who will hunt for me", "This demon of the woods?' Said Balan, 'I'!", "So claimed the quest and rode away, but first,", "Embracing Balin, 'Good my brother, hear!", "Let not thy moods prevail, when I am gone", "Who used to lay them! hold them outer fiends,", "Who leap at thee to tear thee; shake them aside,", "Dreams ruling when wit sleeps! yea, but to dream", "That any of these would wrong thee, wrongs thyself.", "Witness their flowery welcome. Bound are they", "To speak no evil. Truly save for fears,", "My fears for thee, so rich a fellowship", "Would make me wholly blest: thou one of them,", "Be one indeed: consider them, and all", "Their bearing in their common bond of love,", "No more of hatred than in Heaven itself,", "No more of jealousy than in Paradise.'", "", "So Balan warned, and went; Balin remained:", "Who--for but three brief moons had glanced away", "From being knighted till he smote the thrall,", "And faded from the presence into years", "Of exile--now would strictlier set himself", "To learn what Arthur meant by courtesy,", "Manhood, and knighthood; wherefore hovered round", "Lancelot, but when he marked his high sweet smile", "In passing, and a transitory word", "Make knight or churl or child or damsel seem", "From being smiled at happier in themselves--", "Sighed, as a boy lame-born beneath a height,", "That glooms his valley, sighs to see the peak", "Sun-flushed, or touch at night the northern star;", "For one from out his village lately climed", "And brought report of azure lands and fair,", "Far seen to left and right; and he himself", "Hath hardly scaled with help a hundred feet", "Up from the base: so Balin marvelling oft", "How far beyond him Lancelot seemed to move,", "Groaned, and at times would mutter, 'These be gifts,", "Born with the blood, not learnable, divine,", "Beyond MY reach. Well had I foughten--well--", "In those fierce wars, struck hard--and had I crowned", "With my slain self the heaps of whom I slew--", "So--better!--But this worship of the Queen,", "That honour too wherein she holds him--this,", "This was the sunshine that hath given the man", "A growth, a name that branches o'er the rest,", "And strength against all odds, and what the King", "So prizes--overprizes--gentleness.", "Her likewise would I worship an I might.", "I never can be close with her, as he", "That brought her hither. Shall I pray the King", "To let me bear some token of his Queen", "Whereon to gaze, remembering her--forget", "My heats and violences? live afresh?", "What, if the Queen disdained to grant it! nay", "Being so stately-gentle, would she make", "My darkness blackness? and with how sweet grace", "She greeted my return! Bold will I be--", "Some goodly cognizance of Guinevere,", "In lieu of this rough beast upon my shield,", "Langued gules, and toothed with grinning savagery.'", "", "And Arthur, when Sir Balin sought him, said", "'What wilt thou bear?' Balin was bold, and asked", "To bear her own crown-royal upon shield,", "Whereat she smiled and turned her to the King,", "Who answered 'Thou shalt put the crown to use.", "The crown is but the shadow of the King,", "And this a shadow's shadow, let him have it,", "So this will help him of his violences!'", "'No shadow' said Sir Balin 'O my Queen,", "But light to me! no shadow, O my King,", "But golden earnest of a gentler life!'", "", "So Balin bare the crown, and all the knights", "Approved him, and the Queen, and all the world", "Made music, and he felt his being move", "In music with his Order, and the King.", "", "The nightingale, full-toned in middle May,", "Hath ever and anon a note so thin", "It seems another voice in other groves;", "Thus, after some quick burst of sudden wrath,", "The music in him seemed to change, and grow", "Faint and far-off.", "And once he saw the thrall", "His passion half had gauntleted to death,", "That causer of his banishment and shame,", "Smile at him, as he deemed, presumptuously:", "His arm half rose to strike again, but fell:", "The memory of that cognizance on shield", "Weighted it down, but in himself he moaned:", "", "'Too high this mount of Camelot for me:", "These high-set courtesies are not for me.", "Shall I not rather prove the worse for these?", "Fierier and stormier from restraining, break", "Into some madness even before the Queen?'", "", "Thus, as a hearth lit in a mountain home,", "And glancing on the window, when the gloom", "Of twilight deepens round it, seems a flame", "That rages in the woodland far below,", "So when his moods were darkened, court and King", "And all the kindly warmth of Arthur's hall", "Shadowed an angry distance: yet he strove", "To learn the graces of their Table, fought", "Hard with himself, and seemed at length in peace.", "", "Then chanced, one morning, that Sir Balin sat", "Close-bowered in that garden nigh the hall.", "A walk of roses ran from door to door;", "A walk of lilies crost it to the bower:", "And down that range of roses the great Queen", "Came with slow steps, the morning on her face;", "And all in shadow from the counter door", "Sir Lancelot as to meet her, then at once,", "As if he saw not, glanced aside, and paced", "The long white walk of lilies toward the bower.", "Followed the Queen; Sir Balin heard her 'Prince,", "Art thou so little loyal to thy Queen,", "As pass without good morrow to thy Queen?'", "To whom Sir Lancelot with his eyes on earth,", "'Fain would I still be loyal to the Queen.'", "'Yea so' she said 'but so to pass me by--", "So loyal scarce is loyal to thyself,", "Whom all men rate the king of courtesy.", "Let be: ye stand, fair lord, as in a dream.'", "", "Then Lancelot with his hand among the flowers", "'Yea--for a dream. Last night methought I saw", "That maiden Saint who stands with lily in hand", "In yonder shrine. All round her prest the dark,", "And all the light upon her silver face", "Flowed from the spiritual lily that she held.", "Lo! these her emblems drew mine eyes--away:", "For see, how perfect-pure! As light a flush", "As hardly tints the blossom of the quince", "Would mar their charm of stainless maidenhood.'", "", "'Sweeter to me' she said 'this garden rose", "Deep-hued and many-folded! sweeter still", "The wild-wood hyacinth and the bloom of May.", "Prince, we have ridden before among the flowers", "In those fair days--not all as cool as these,", "Though season-earlier. Art thou sad? or sick?", "Our noble King will send thee his own leech--", "Sick? or for any matter angered at me?'", "", "Then Lancelot lifted his large eyes; they dwelt", "Deep-tranced on hers, and could not fall: her hue", "Changed at his gaze: so turning side by side", "They past, and Balin started from his bower.", "", "'Queen? subject? but I see not what I see.", "Damsel and lover? hear not what I hear.", "My father hath begotten me in his wrath.", "I suffer from the things before me, know,", "Learn nothing; am not worthy to be knight;", "A churl, a clown!' and in him gloom on gloom", "Deepened: he sharply caught his lance and shield,", "Nor stayed to crave permission of the King,", "But, mad for strange adventure, dashed away.", "", "He took the selfsame track as Balan, saw", "The fountain where they sat together, sighed", "'Was I not better there with him?' and rode", "The skyless woods, but under open blue", "Came on the hoarhead woodman at a bough", "Wearily hewing. 'Churl, thine axe!' he cried,", "Descended, and disjointed it at a blow:", "To whom the woodman uttered wonderingly", "'Lord, thou couldst lay the Devil of these woods", "If arm of flesh could lay him.' Balin cried", "'Him, or the viler devil who plays his part,", "To lay that devil would lay the Devil in me.'", "'Nay' said the churl, 'our devil is a truth,", "I saw the flash of him but yestereven.", "And some DO say that our Sir Garlon too", "Hath learned black magic, and to ride unseen.", "Look to the cave.' But Balin answered him", "'Old fabler, these be fancies of the churl,", "Look to thy woodcraft,' and so leaving him,", "Now with slack rein and careless of himself,", "Now with dug spur and raving at himself,", "Now with droopt brow down the long glades he rode;", "So marked not on his right a cavern-chasm", "Yawn over darkness, where, nor far within,", "The whole day died, but, dying, gleamed on rocks", "Roof-pendent, sharp; and others from the floor,", "Tusklike, arising, made that mouth of night", "Whereout the Demon issued up from Hell.", "He marked not this, but blind and deaf to all", "Save that chained rage, which ever yelpt within,", "Past eastward from the falling sun. At once", "He felt the hollow-beaten mosses thud", "And tremble, and then the shadow of a spear,", "Shot from behind him, ran along the ground.", "Sideways he started from the path, and saw,", "With pointed lance as if to pierce, a shape,", "A light of armour by him flash, and pass", "And vanish in the woods; and followed this,", "But all so blind in rage that unawares", "He burst his lance against a forest bough,", "Dishorsed himself, and rose again, and fled", "Far, till the castle of a King, the hall", "Of Pellam, lichen-bearded, grayly draped", "With streaming grass, appeared, low-built but strong;", "The ruinous donjon as a knoll of moss,", "The battlement overtopt with ivytods,", "A home of bats, in every tower an owl.", "Then spake the men of Pellam crying 'Lord,", "Why wear ye this crown-royal upon shield?'", "Said Balin 'For the fairest and the best", "Of ladies living gave me this to bear.'", "So stalled his horse, and strode across the court,", "But found the greetings both of knight and King", "Faint in the low dark hall of banquet: leaves", "Laid their green faces flat against the panes,", "Sprays grated, and the cankered boughs without", "Whined in the wood; for all was hushed within,", "Till when at feast Sir Garlon likewise asked", "'Why wear ye that crown-royal?' Balin said", "'The Queen we worship, Lancelot, I, and all,", "As fairest, best and purest, granted me", "To bear it!' Such a sound (for Arthur's knights", "Were hated strangers in the hall) as makes", "The white swan-mother, sitting, when she hears", "A strange knee rustle through her secret reeds,", "Made Garlon, hissing; then he sourly smiled.", "'Fairest I grant her: I have seen; but best,", "Best, purest? THOU from Arthur's hall, and yet", "So simple! hast thou eyes, or if, are these", "So far besotted that they fail to see", "This fair wife-worship cloaks a secret shame?", "Truly, ye men of Arthur be but babes.'", "", "A goblet on the board by Balin, bossed", "With holy Joseph's legend, on his right", "Stood, all of massiest bronze: one side had sea", "And ship and sail and angels blowing on it:", "And one was rough with wattling, and the walls", "Of that low church he built at Glastonbury.", "This Balin graspt, but while in act to hurl,", "Through memory of that token on the shield", "Relaxed his hold: 'I will be gentle' he thought", "'And passing gentle' caught his hand away,", "Then fiercely to Sir Garlon 'Eyes have I", "That saw today the shadow of a spear,", "Shot from behind me, run along the ground;", "Eyes too that long have watched how Lancelot draws", "From homage to the best and purest, might,", "Name, manhood, and a grace, but scantly thine,", "Who, sitting in thine own hall, canst endure", "To mouth so huge a foulness--to thy guest,", "Me, me of Arthur's Table. Felon talk!", "Let be! no more!'", "But not the less by night", "The scorn of Garlon, poisoning all his rest,", "Stung him in dreams. At length, and dim through leaves", "Blinkt the white morn, sprays grated, and old boughs", "Whined in the wood. He rose, descended, met", "The scorner in the castle court, and fain,", "For hate and loathing, would have past him by;", "But when Sir Garlon uttered mocking-wise;", "'What, wear ye still that same crown-scandalous?'", "His countenance blackened, and his forehead veins", "Bloated, and branched; and tearing out of sheath", "The brand, Sir Balin with a fiery 'Ha!", "So thou be shadow, here I make thee ghost,'", "Hard upon helm smote him, and the blade flew", "Splintering in six, and clinkt upon the stones.", "Then Garlon, reeling slowly backward, fell,", "And Balin by the banneret of his helm", "Dragged him, and struck, but from the castle a cry", "Sounded across the court, and--men-at-arms,", "A score with pointed lances, making at him--", "He dashed the pummel at the foremost face,", "Beneath a low door dipt, and made his feet", "Wings through a glimmering gallery, till he marked", "The portal of King Pellam's chapel wide", "And inward to the wall; he stept behind;", "Thence in a moment heard them pass like wolves", "Howling; but while he stared about the shrine,", "In which he scarce could spy the Christ for Saints,", "Beheld before a golden altar lie", "The longest lance his eyes had ever seen,", "Point-painted red; and seizing thereupon", "Pushed through an open casement down, leaned on it,", "Leapt in a semicircle, and lit on earth;", "Then hand at ear, and harkening from what side", "The blindfold rummage buried in the walls", "Might echo, ran the counter path, and found", "His charger, mounted on him and away.", "An arrow whizzed to the right, one to the left,", "One overhead; and Pellam's feeble cry", "'Stay, stay him! he defileth heavenly things", "With earthly uses'--made him quickly dive", "Beneath the boughs, and race through many a mile", "Of dense and open, till his goodly horse,", "Arising wearily at a fallen oak,", "Stumbled headlong, and cast him face to ground.", "", "Half-wroth he had not ended, but all glad,", "Knightlike, to find his charger yet unlamed,", "Sir Balin drew the shield from off his neck,", "Stared at the priceless cognizance, and thought", "'I have shamed thee so that now thou shamest me,", "Thee will I bear no more,' high on a branch", "Hung it, and turned aside into the woods,", "And there in gloom cast himself all along,", "Moaning 'My violences, my violences!'", "", "But now the wholesome music of the wood", "Was dumbed by one from out the hall of Mark,", "A damsel-errant, warbling, as she rode", "The woodland alleys, Vivien, with her Squire.", "", "'The fire of Heaven has killed the barren cold,", "And kindled all the plain and all the wold.", "The new leaf ever pushes off the old.", "The fire of Heaven is not the flame of Hell.", "", "'Old priest, who mumble worship in your quire--", "Old monk and nun, ye scorn the world's desire,", "Yet in your frosty cells ye feel the fire!", "The fire of Heaven is not the flame of Hell.", "", "'The fire of Heaven is on the dusty ways.", "The wayside blossoms open to the blaze.", "The whole wood-world is one full peal of praise.", "The fire of Heaven is not the flame of Hell.", "", "'The fire of Heaven is lord of all things good,", "And starve not thou this fire within thy blood,", "But follow Vivien through the fiery flood!", "The fire of Heaven is not the flame of Hell!'", "", "Then turning to her Squire 'This fire of Heaven,", "This old sun-worship, boy, will rise again,", "And beat the cross to earth, and break the King", "And all his Table.'", "Then they reached a glade,", "Where under one long lane of cloudless air", "Before another wood, the royal crown", "Sparkled, and swaying upon a restless elm", "Drew the vague glance of Vivien, and her Squire;", "Amazed were these; 'Lo there' she cried--'a crown--", "Borne by some high lord-prince of Arthur's hall,", "And there a horse! the rider? where is he?", "See, yonder lies one dead within the wood.", "Not dead; he stirs!--but sleeping. I will speak.", "Hail, royal knight, we break on thy sweet rest,", "Not, doubtless, all unearned by noble deeds.", "But bounden art thou, if from Arthur's hall,", "To help the weak. Behold, I fly from shame,", "A lustful King, who sought to win my love", "Through evil ways: the knight, with whom I rode,", "Hath suffered misadventure, and my squire", "Hath in him small defence; but thou, Sir Prince,", "Wilt surely guide me to the warrior King,", "Arthur the blameless, pure as any maid,", "To get me shelter for my maidenhood.", "I charge thee by that crown upon thy shield,", "And by the great Queen's name, arise and hence.'", "", "And Balin rose, 'Thither no more! nor Prince", "Nor knight am I, but one that hath defamed", "The cognizance she gave me: here I dwell", "Savage among the savage woods, here die--", "Die: let the wolves' black maws ensepulchre", "Their brother beast, whose anger was his lord.", "O me, that such a name as Guinevere's,", "Which our high Lancelot hath so lifted up,", "And been thereby uplifted, should through me,", "My violence, and my villainy, come to shame.'", "", "Thereat she suddenly laughed and shrill, anon", "Sighed all as suddenly. Said Balin to her", "'Is this thy courtesy--to mock me, ha?", "Hence, for I will not with thee.' Again she sighed", "'Pardon, sweet lord! we maidens often laugh", "When sick at heart, when rather we should weep.", "I knew thee wronged. I brake upon thy rest,", "And now full loth am I to break thy dream,", "But thou art man, and canst abide a truth,", "Though bitter. Hither, boy--and mark me well.", "Dost thou remember at Caerleon once--", "A year ago--nay, then I love thee not--", "Ay, thou rememberest well--one summer dawn--", "By the great tower--Caerleon upon Usk--", "Nay, truly we were hidden: this fair lord,", "The flower of all their vestal knighthood, knelt", "In amorous homage--knelt--what else?--O ay", "Knelt, and drew down from out his night-black hair", "And mumbled that white hand whose ringed caress", "Had wandered from her own King's golden head,", "And lost itself in darkness, till she cried--", "I thought the great tower would crash down on both--", "\"Rise, my sweet King, and kiss me on the lips,", "Thou art my King.\" This lad, whose lightest word", "Is mere white truth in simple nakedness,", "Saw them embrace: he reddens, cannot speak,", "So bashful, he! but all the maiden Saints,", "The deathless mother-maidenhood of Heaven,", "Cry out upon her. Up then, ride with me!", "Talk not of shame! thou canst not, an thou would'st,", "Do these more shame than these have done themselves.'", "", "She lied with ease; but horror-stricken he,", "Remembering that dark bower at Camelot,", "Breathed in a dismal whisper 'It is truth.'", "", "Sunnily she smiled 'And even in this lone wood,", "Sweet lord, ye do right well to whisper this.", "Fools prate, and perish traitors. Woods have tongues,", "As walls have ears: but thou shalt go with me,", "And we will speak at first exceeding low.", "Meet is it the good King be not deceived.", "See now, I set thee high on vantage ground,", "From whence to watch the time, and eagle-like", "Stoop at thy will on Lancelot and the Queen.'", "", "She ceased; his evil spirit upon him leapt,", "He ground his teeth together, sprang with a yell,", "Tore from the branch, and cast on earth, the shield,", "Drove his mailed heel athwart the royal crown,", "Stampt all into defacement, hurled it from him", "Among the forest weeds, and cursed the tale,", "The told-of, and the teller.", "That weird yell,", "Unearthlier than all shriek of bird or beast,", "Thrilled through the woods; and Balan lurking there", "(His quest was unaccomplished) heard and thought", "'The scream of that Wood-devil I came to quell!'", "Then nearing 'Lo! he hath slain some brother-knight,", "And tramples on the goodly shield to show", "His loathing of our Order and the Queen.", "My quest, meseems, is here. Or devil or man", "Guard thou thine head.' Sir Balin spake not word,", "But snatched a sudden buckler from the Squire,", "And vaulted on his horse, and so they crashed", "In onset, and King Pellam's holy spear,", "Reputed to be red with sinless blood,", "Redded at once with sinful, for the point", "Across the maiden shield of Balan pricked", "The hauberk to the flesh; and Balin's horse", "Was wearied to the death, and, when they clashed,", "Rolling back upon Balin, crushed the man", "Inward, and either fell, and swooned away.", "", "Then to her Squire muttered the damsel 'Fools!", "This fellow hath wrought some foulness with his Queen:", "Else never had he borne her crown, nor raved", "And thus foamed over at a rival name:", "But thou, Sir Chick, that scarce hast broken shell,", "Art yet half-yolk, not even come to down--", "Who never sawest Caerleon upon Usk--", "And yet hast often pleaded for my love--", "See what I see, be thou where I have been,", "Or else Sir Chick--dismount and loose their casques", "I fain would know what manner of men they be.'", "And when the Squire had loosed them, 'Goodly!--look!", "They might have cropt the myriad flower of May,", "And butt each other here, like brainless bulls,", "Dead for one heifer!", "Then the gentle Squire", "'I hold them happy, so they died for love:", "And, Vivien, though ye beat me like your dog,", "I too could die, as now I live, for thee.'", "", "'Live on, Sir Boy,' she cried. 'I better prize", "The living dog than the dead lion: away!", "I cannot brook to gaze upon the dead.'", "Then leapt her palfrey o'er the fallen oak,", "And bounding forward 'Leave them to the wolves.'", "", "But when their foreheads felt the cooling air,", "Balin first woke, and seeing that true face,", "Familiar up from cradle-time, so wan,", "Crawled slowly with low moans to where he lay,", "And on his dying brother cast himself", "Dying; and HE lifted faint eyes; he felt", "One near him; all at once they found the world,", "Staring wild-wide; then with a childlike wail", "And drawing down the dim disastrous brow", "That o'er him hung, he kissed it, moaned and spake;", "", "'O Balin, Balin, I that fain had died", "To save thy life, have brought thee to thy death.", "Why had ye not the shield I knew? and why", "Trampled ye thus on that which bare the Crown?'", "", "Then Balin told him brokenly, and in gasps,", "All that had chanced, and Balan moaned again.", "", "'Brother, I dwelt a day in Pellam's hall:", "This Garlon mocked me, but I heeded not.", "And one said \"Eat in peace! a liar is he,", "And hates thee for the tribute!\" this good knight", "Told me, that twice a wanton damsel came,", "And sought for Garlon at the castle-gates,", "Whom Pellam drove away with holy heat.", "I well believe this damsel, and the one", "Who stood beside thee even now, the same.", "\"She dwells among the woods\" he said \"and meets", "And dallies with him in the Mouth of Hell.\"", "Foul are their lives; foul are their lips; they lied.", "Pure as our own true Mother is our Queen.\"", "", "'O brother' answered Balin 'woe is me!", "My madness all thy life has been thy doom,", "Thy curse, and darkened all thy day; and now", "The night has come. I scarce can see thee now.", "", "Goodnight! for we shall never bid again", "Goodmorrow--Dark my doom was here, and dark", "It will be there. I see thee now no more.", "I would not mine again should darken thine,", "Goodnight, true brother.", "Balan answered low", "'Goodnight, true brother here! goodmorrow there!", "We two were born together, and we die", "Together by one doom:' and while he spoke", "Closed his death-drowsing eyes, and slept the sleep", "With Balin, either locked in either's arm." ], "linecount": "628" }, { "title": "The Progress of Spring", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "THE groundflame of the crocus breaks the mould,", "Fair Spring slides hither o'er the Southern sea,", "Wavers on her thin stem the snowdrop cold", "That trembles not to kisses of the bee:", "Come Spring, for now from all the dripping eaves", "The spear of ice has wept itself away,", "And hour by hour unfolding woodbine leaves", "O'er his uncertain shadow droops the day.", "She comes! The loosen'd rivulets run;", "The frost-bead melts upon her golden hair;", "Her mantle, slowly greening in the Sun,", "Now wraps her close, now arching leaves her bar", "To breaths of balmier air;", "", "Up leaps the lark, gone wild to welcome her,", "About her glance the tits, and shriek the jays,", "Before her skims the jubilant woodpecker,", "The linnet's bosom blushes at her gaze,", "While round her brows a woodland culver flits,", "Watching her large light eyes and gracious looks,", "And in her open palm a halcyon sits", "Patient--the secret splendour of the brooks.", "Come Spring! She comes on waste and wood,", "On farm and field: but enter also here,", "Diffuse thyself at will thro' all my blood,", "And, tho' thy violet sicken into sere,", "Lodge with me all the year!", "", "Once more a downy drift against the brakes,", "Self-darken'd in the sky, descending slow!", "But gladly see I thro' the wavering flakes", "Yon blanching apricot like snow in snow.", "These will thine eyes not brook in forest-paths,", "On their perpetual pine, nor round the beech;", "They fuse themselves to little spicy baths,", "Solved in the tender blushes of the peach;", "They lose themselves and die", "On that new life that gems the hawthorn line;", "Thy gay lent-lilies wave and put them by,", "And out once more in varnish'd glory shine", "Thy stars of celandine.", "", "She floats across the hamlet. Heaven lours,", "But in the tearful splendour of her smiles", "I see the slowl-thickening chestnut towers", "Fill out the spaces by the barren tiles.", "Now past her feet the swallow circling flies,", "A clamorous cuckoo stoops to meet her hand;", "Her light makes rainbows in my closing eyes,", "I hear a charm of song thro' all the land.", "Come, Spring! She comes, and Earth is glad", "To roll her North below thy deepening dome,", "But ere thy maiden birk be wholly clad,", "And these low bushes dip their twigs in foam,", "Make all true hearths thy home.", "", "Across my garden! and the thicket stirs,", "The fountain pulses high in sunnier jets,", "The blackcap warbles, and the turtle purrs,", "The starling claps his tiny castanets.", "Still round her forehead wheels the woodland dove,", "And scatters on her throat the sparks of dew,", "The kingcup fills her footprint, and above", "Broaden the glowing isles of vernal blue.", "Hail ample presence of a Queen,", "Bountiful, beautiful, apparell'd gay,", "Whose mantle, every shade of glancing green,", "Flies back in fragrant breezes to display", "A tunic white as May!", "", "She whispers, 'From the South I bring you balm,", "For on a tropic mountain was I born,", "While some dark dweller by the coco-palm", "Watch'd my far meadow zoned with airy morn;", "From under rose a muffled moan of floods;", "I sat beneath a solitude of snow;", "There no one came, the turf was fresh, the woods", "Plunged gulf on gulf thro' all their vales below", "I saw beyond their silent tops", "The steaming marshes of the scarlet cranes,", "The slant seas leaning oll the mangrove copse,", "And summer basking in the sultry plains", "About a land of canes;", "", "'Then from my vapour-girdle soaring forth", "I scaled the buoyant highway of the birds,", "And drank the dews and drizzle of the North,", "That I might mix with men, and hear their words", "On pathway'd plains; for--while my hand exults", "Within the bloodless heart of lowly flowers", "To work old laws of Love to fresh results,", "Thro' manifold effect of simple powers--", "I too would teach the man", "Beyond the darker hour to see the bright,", "That his fresh life may close as it began,", "The still-fulfilling promise of a light", "Narrowing the bounds of night.'", "", "So wed thee with my soul, that I may mark", "The coming year's great good and varied ills,", "And new developments, whatever spark", "Be struck from out the clash of warring wills;", "Or whether, since our nature cannot rest,", "The smoke of war's volcano burst again", "From hoary deeps that belt the changeful West,", "Old Empires, dwellings of the kings of men;", "Or should those fail, that hold the helm,", "While the long day of knowledge grows and warms,", "And in the heart of this most ancient realm", "A hateful voice be utter'd, and alarms", "Sounding 'To arms! to arms!'", "", "A simpler, saner lesson might he learn", "Who reads thy gradual process, Holy Spring.", "Thy leaves possess the season in their turn,", "And in their time thy warblers rise on wing.", "How surely glidest thou from March to May,", "And changest, breathing it, the sullen wind,", "Thy scope of operation, day by day,", "Larger and fuller, like the human mind '", "Thy warmths from bud to bud", "Accomplish that blind model in the seed,", "And men have hopes, which race the restless blood", "That after many changes may succeed", "Life, which is Life indeed." ], "linecount": "117" }, { "title": "Guinevere", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Queen Guinevere had fled the court, and sat", "There in the holy house at Almesbury", "Weeping, none with her save a little maid,", "A novice: one low light betwixt them burned", "Blurred by the creeping mist, for all abroad,", "Beneath a moon unseen albeit at full,", "The white mist, like a face-cloth to the face,", "Clung to the dead earth, and the land was still.", "", "For hither had she fled, her cause of flight", "Sir Modred; he that like a subtle beast", "Lay couchant with his eyes upon the throne,", "Ready to spring, waiting a chance: for this", "He chilled the popular praises of the King", "With silent smiles of slow disparagement;", "And tampered with the Lords of the White Horse,", "Heathen, the brood by Hengist left; and sought", "To make disruption in the Table Round", "Of Arthur, and to splinter it into feuds", "Serving his traitorous end; and all his aims", "Were sharpened by strong hate for Lancelot.", "", "For thus it chanced one morn when all the court,", "Green-suited, but with plumes that mocked the may,", "Had been, their wont, a-maying and returned,", "That Modred still in green, all ear and eye,", "Climbed to the high top of the garden-wall", "To spy some secret scandal if he might,", "And saw the Queen who sat betwixt her best", "Enid, and lissome Vivien, of her court", "The wiliest and the worst; and more than this", "He saw not, for Sir Lancelot passing by", "Spied where he couched, and as the gardener's hand", "Picks from the colewort a green caterpillar,", "So from the high wall and the flowering grove", "Of grasses Lancelot plucked him by the heel,", "And cast him as a worm upon the way;", "But when he knew the Prince though marred with dust,", "He, reverencing king's blood in a bad man,", "Made such excuses as he might, and these", "Full knightly without scorn; for in those days", "No knight of Arthur's noblest dealt in scorn;", "But, if a man were halt or hunched, in him", "By those whom God had made full-limbed and tall,", "Scorn was allowed as part of his defect,", "And he was answered softly by the King", "And all his Table. So Sir Lancelot holp", "To raise the Prince, who rising twice or thrice", "Full sharply smote his knees, and smiled, and went:", "But, ever after, the small violence done", "Rankled in him and ruffled all his heart,", "As the sharp wind that ruffles all day long", "A little bitter pool about a stone", "On the bare coast.", "", "But when Sir Lancelot told", "This matter to the Queen, at first she laughed", "Lightly, to think of Modred's dusty fall,", "Then shuddered, as the village wife who cries", "`I shudder, some one steps across my grave;'", "Then laughed again, but faintlier, for indeed", "She half-foresaw that he, the subtle beast,", "Would track her guilt until he found, and hers", "Would be for evermore a name of scorn.", "Henceforward rarely could she front in hall,", "Or elsewhere, Modred's narrow foxy face,", "Heart-hiding smile, and gray persistent eye:", "Henceforward too, the Powers that tend the soul,", "To help it from the death that cannot die,", "And save it even in extremes, began", "To vex and plague her. Many a time for hours,", "Beside the placid breathings of the King,", "In the dead night, grim faces came and went", "Before her, or a vague spiritual fear--", "Like to some doubtful noise of creaking doors,", "Heard by the watcher in a haunted house,", "That keeps the rust of murder on the walls--", "Held her awake: or if she slept, she dreamed", "An awful dream; for then she seemed to stand", "On some vast plain before a setting sun,", "And from the sun there swiftly made at her", "A ghastly something, and its shadow flew", "Before it, till it touched her, and she turned--", "When lo! her own, that broadening from her feet,", "And blackening, swallowed all the land, and in it", "Far cities burnt, and with a cry she woke.", "And all this trouble did not pass but grew;", "Till even the clear face of the guileless King,", "And trustful courtesies of household life,", "Became her bane; and at the last she said,", "`O Lancelot, get thee hence to thine own land,", "For if thou tarry we shall meet again,", "And if we meet again, some evil chance", "Will make the smouldering scandal break and blaze", "Before the people, and our lord the King.'", "And Lancelot ever promised, but remained,", "And still they met and met. Again she said,", "`O Lancelot, if thou love me get thee hence.'", "And then they were agreed upon a night", "(When the good King should not be there) to meet", "And part for ever. Vivien, lurking, heard.", "She told Sir Modred. Passion-pale they met", "And greeted. Hands in hands, and eye to eye,", "Low on the border of her couch they sat", "Stammering and staring. It was their last hour,", "A madness of farewells. And Modred brought", "His creatures to the basement of the tower", "For testimony; and crying with full voice", "`Traitor, come out, ye are trapt at last,' aroused", "Lancelot, who rushing outward lionlike", "Leapt on him, and hurled him headlong, and he fell", "Stunned, and his creatures took and bare him off,", "And all was still: then she, `The end is come,", "And I am shamed for ever;' and he said,", "`Mine be the shame; mine was the sin: but rise,", "And fly to my strong castle overseas:", "There will I hide thee, till my life shall end,", "There hold thee with my life against the world.'", "She answered, `Lancelot, wilt thou hold me so?", "Nay, friend, for we have taken our farewells.", "Would God that thou couldst hide me from myself!", "Mine is the shame, for I was wife, and thou", "Unwedded: yet rise now, and let us fly,", "For I will draw me into sanctuary,", "And bide my doom.' So Lancelot got her horse,", "Set her thereon, and mounted on his own,", "And then they rode to the divided way,", "There kissed, and parted weeping: for he past,", "Love-loyal to the least wish of the Queen,", "Back to his land; but she to Almesbury", "Fled all night long by glimmering waste and weald,", "And heard the Spirits of the waste and weald", "Moan as she fled, or thought she heard them moan:", "And in herself she moaned `Too late, too late!'", "Till in the cold wind that foreruns the morn,", "A blot in heaven, the Raven, flying high,", "Croaked, and she thought, `He spies a field of death;", "For now the Heathen of the Northern Sea,", "Lured by the crimes and frailties of the court,", "Begin to slay the folk, and spoil the land.'", "", "And when she came to Almesbury she spake", "There to the nuns, and said, `Mine enemies", "Pursue me, but, O peaceful Sisterhood,", "Receive, and yield me sanctuary, nor ask", "Her name to whom ye yield it, till her time", "To tell you:' and her beauty, grace and power,", "Wrought as a charm upon them, and they spared", "To ask it.", "", "So the stately Queen abode", "For many a week, unknown, among the nuns;", "Nor with them mixed, nor told her name, nor sought,", "Wrapt in her grief, for housel or for shrift,", "But communed only with the little maid,", "Who pleased her with a babbling heedlessness", "Which often lured her from herself; but now,", "This night, a rumour wildly blown about", "Came, that Sir Modred had usurped the realm,", "And leagued him with the heathen, while the King", "Was waging war on Lancelot: then she thought,", "`With what a hate the people and the King", "Must hate me,' and bowed down upon her hands", "Silent, until the little maid, who brooked", "No silence, brake it, uttering, `Late! so late!", "What hour, I wonder, now?' and when she drew", "No answer, by and by began to hum", "An air the nuns had taught her; `Late, so late!'", "Which when she heard, the Queen looked up, and said,", "`O maiden, if indeed ye list to sing,", "Sing, and unbind my heart that I may weep.'", "Whereat full willingly sang the little maid.", "", "`Late, late, so late! and dark the night and chill!", "Late, late, so late! but we can enter still.", "Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now.", "", "`No light had we: for that we do repent;", "And learning this, the bridegroom will relent.", "Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now.", "", "`No light: so late! and dark and chill the night!", "O let us in, that we may find the light!", "Too late, too late: ye cannot enter now.", "", "`Have we not heard the bridegroom is so sweet?", "O let us in, though late, to kiss his feet!", "No, no, too late! ye cannot enter now.'", "", "So sang the novice, while full passionately,", "Her head upon her hands, remembering", "Her thought when first she came, wept the sad Queen.", "Then said the little novice prattling to her,", "`O pray you, noble lady, weep no more;", "But let my words, the words of one so small,", "Who knowing nothing knows but to obey,", "And if I do not there is penance given--", "Comfort your sorrows; for they do not flow", "From evil done; right sure am I of that,", "Who see your tender grace and stateliness.", "But weigh your sorrows with our lord the King's,", "And weighing find them less; for gone is he", "To wage grim war against Sir Lancelot there,", "Round that strong castle where he holds the Queen;", "And Modred whom he left in charge of all,", "The traitor--Ah sweet lady, the King's grief", "For his own self, and his own Queen, and realm,", "Must needs be thrice as great as any of ours.", "For me, I thank the saints, I am not great.", "For if there ever come a grief to me", "I cry my cry in silence, and have done.", "None knows it, and my tears have brought me good:", "But even were the griefs of little ones", "As great as those of great ones, yet this grief", "Is added to the griefs the great must bear,", "That howsoever much they may desire", "Silence, they cannot weep behind a cloud:", "As even here they talk at Almesbury", "About the good King and his wicked Queen,", "And were I such a King with such a Queen,", "Well might I wish to veil her wickedness,", "But were I such a King, it could not be.'", "", "Then to her own sad heart muttered the Queen,", "`Will the child kill me with her innocent talk?'", "But openly she answered, `Must not I,", "If this false traitor have displaced his lord,", "Grieve with the common grief of all the realm?'", "", "`Yea,' said the maid, `this is all woman's grief,", "That SHE is woman, whose disloyal life", "Hath wrought confusion in the Table Round", "Which good King Arthur founded, years ago,", "With signs and miracles and wonders, there", "At Camelot, ere the coming of the Queen.'", "", "Then thought the Queen within herself again,", "`Will the child kill me with her foolish prate?'", "But openly she spake and said to her,", "`O little maid, shut in by nunnery walls,", "What canst thou know of Kings and Tables Round,", "Or what of signs and wonders, but the signs", "And simple miracles of thy nunnery?'", "", "To whom the little novice garrulously,", "`Yea, but I know: the land was full of signs", "And wonders ere the coming of the Queen.", "So said my father, and himself was knight", "Of the great Table--at the founding of it;", "And rode thereto from Lyonnesse, and he said", "That as he rode, an hour or maybe twain", "After the sunset, down the coast, he heard", "Strange music, and he paused, and turning--there,", "All down the lonely coast of Lyonnesse,", "Each with a beacon-star upon his head,", "And with a wild sea-light about his feet,", "He saw them--headland after headland flame", "Far on into the rich heart of the west:", "And in the light the white mermaiden swam,", "And strong man-breasted things stood from the sea,", "And sent a deep sea-voice through all the land,", "To which the little elves of chasm and cleft", "Made answer, sounding like a distant horn.", "So said my father--yea, and furthermore,", "Next morning, while he past the dim-lit woods,", "Himself beheld three spirits mad with joy", "Come dashing down on a tall wayside flower,", "That shook beneath them, as the thistle shakes", "When three gray linnets wrangle for the seed:", "And still at evenings on before his horse", "The flickering fairy-circle wheeled and broke", "Flying, and linked again, and wheeled and broke", "Flying, for all the land was full of life.", "And when at last he came to Camelot,", "A wreath of airy dancers hand-in-hand", "Swung round the lighted lantern of the hall;", "And in the hall itself was such a feast", "As never man had dreamed; for every knight", "Had whatsoever meat he longed for served", "By hands unseen; and even as he said", "Down in the cellars merry bloated things", "Shouldered the spigot, straddling on the butts", "While the wine ran: so glad were spirits and men", "Before the coming of the sinful Queen.'", "", "Then spake the Queen and somewhat bitterly,", "`Were they so glad? ill prophets were they all,", "Spirits and men: could none of them foresee,", "Not even thy wise father with his signs", "And wonders, what has fallen upon the realm?'", "", "To whom the novice garrulously again,", "`Yea, one, a bard; of whom my father said,", "Full many a noble war-song had he sung,", "Even in the presence of an enemy's fleet,", "Between the steep cliff and the coming wave;", "And many a mystic lay of life and death", "Had chanted on the smoky mountain-tops,", "When round him bent the spirits of the hills", "With all their dewy hair blown back like flame:", "So said my father--and that night the bard", "Sang Arthur's glorious wars, and sang the King", "As wellnigh more than man, and railed at those", "Who called him the false son of Gorlos:", "For there was no man knew from whence he came;", "But after tempest, when the long wave broke", "All down the thundering shores of Bude and Bos,", "There came a day as still as heaven, and then", "They found a naked child upon the sands", "Of dark Tintagil by the Cornish sea;", "And that was Arthur; and they fostered him", "Till he by miracle was approven King:", "And that his grave should be a mystery", "From all men, like his birth; and could he find", "A woman in her womanhood as great", "As he was in his manhood, then, he sang,", "The twain together well might change the world.", "But even in the middle of his song", "He faltered, and his hand fell from the harp,", "And pale he turned, and reeled, and would have fallen,", "But that they stayed him up; nor would he tell", "His vision; but what doubt that he foresaw", "This evil work of Lancelot and the Queen?'", "", "Then thought the Queen, `Lo! they have set her on,", "Our simple-seeming Abbess and her nuns,", "To play upon me,' and bowed her head nor spake.", "Whereat the novice crying, with clasped hands,", "Shame on her own garrulity garrulously,", "Said the good nuns would check her gadding tongue", "Full often, `and, sweet lady, if I seem", "To vex an ear too sad to listen to me,", "Unmannerly, with prattling and the tales", "Which my good father told me, check me too", "Nor let me shame my father's memory, one", "Of noblest manners, though himself would say", "Sir Lancelot had the noblest; and he died,", "Killed in a tilt, come next, five summers back,", "And left me; but of others who remain,", "And of the two first-famed for courtesy--", "And pray you check me if I ask amiss-", "But pray you, which had noblest, while you moved", "Among them, Lancelot or our lord the King?'", "", "Then the pale Queen looked up and answered her,", "`Sir Lancelot, as became a noble knight,", "Was gracious to all ladies, and the same", "In open battle or the tilting-field", "Forbore his own advantage, and the King", "In open battle or the tilting-field", "Forbore his own advantage, and these two", "Were the most nobly-mannered men of all;", "For manners are not idle, but the fruit", "Of loyal nature, and of noble mind.'", "", "`Yea,' said the maid, `be manners such fair fruit?'", "Then Lancelot's needs must be a thousand-fold", "Less noble, being, as all rumour runs,", "The most disloyal friend in all the world.'", "", "To which a mournful answer made the Queen:", "`O closed about by narrowing nunnery-walls,", "What knowest thou of the world, and all its lights", "And shadows, all the wealth and all the woe?", "If ever Lancelot, that most noble knight,", "Were for one hour less noble than himself,", "Pray for him that he scape the doom of fire,", "And weep for her that drew him to his doom.'", "", "`Yea,' said the little novice, `I pray for both;", "But I should all as soon believe that his,", "Sir Lancelot's, were as noble as the King's,", "As I could think, sweet lady, yours would be", "Such as they are, were you the sinful Queen.'", "", "So she, like many another babbler, hurt", "Whom she would soothe, and harmed where she would heal;", "For here a sudden flush of wrathful heat", "Fired all the pale face of the Queen, who cried,", "`Such as thou art be never maiden more", "For ever! thou their tool, set on to plague", "And play upon, and harry me, petty spy", "And traitress.' When that storm of anger brake", "From Guinevere, aghast the maiden rose,", "White as her veil, and stood before the Queen", "As tremulously as foam upon the beach", "Stands in a wind, ready to break and fly,", "And when the Queen had added `Get thee hence,'", "Fled frighted. Then that other left alone", "Sighed, and began to gather heart again,", "Saying in herself, `The simple, fearful child", "Meant nothing, but my own too-fearful guilt,", "Simpler than any child, betrays itself.", "But help me, heaven, for surely I repent.", "For what is true repentance but in thought--", "Not even in inmost thought to think again", "The sins that made the past so pleasant to us:", "And I have sworn never to see him more,", "To see him more.'", "", "And even in saying this,", "Her memory from old habit of the mind", "Went slipping back upon the golden days", "In which she saw him first, when Lancelot came,", "Reputed the best knight and goodliest man,", "Ambassador, to lead her to his lord", "Arthur, and led her forth, and far ahead", "Of his and her retinue moving, they,", "Rapt in sweet talk or lively, all on love", "And sport and tilts and pleasure, (for the time", "Was maytime, and as yet no sin was dreamed,)", "Rode under groves that looked a paradise", "Of blossom, over sheets of hyacinth", "That seemed the heavens upbreaking through the earth,", "And on from hill to hill, and every day", "Beheld at noon in some delicious dale", "The silk pavilions of King Arthur raised", "For brief repast or afternoon repose", "By couriers gone before; and on again,", "Till yet once more ere set of sun they saw", "The Dragon of the great Pendragonship,", "That crowned the state pavilion of the King,", "Blaze by the rushing brook or silent well.", "", "But when the Queen immersed in such a trance,", "And moving through the past unconsciously,", "Came to that point where first she saw the King", "Ride toward her from the city, sighed to find", "Her journey done, glanced at him, thought him cold,", "High, self-contained, and passionless, not like him,", "`Not like my Lancelot'--while she brooded thus", "And grew half-guilty in her thoughts again,", "There rode an armd warrior to the doors.", "A murmuring whisper through the nunnery ran,", "Then on a sudden a cry, `The King.' She sat", "Stiff-stricken, listening; but when armd feet", "Through the long gallery from the outer doors", "Rang coming, prone from off her seat she fell,", "And grovelled with her face against the floor:", "There with her milkwhite arms and shadowy hair", "She made her face a darkness from the King:", "And in the darkness heard his armd feet", "Pause by her; then came silence, then a voice,", "Monotonous and hollow like a Ghost's", "Denouncing judgment, but though changed, the King's:", "", "`Liest thou here so low, the child of one", "I honoured, happy, dead before thy shame?", "Well is it that no child is born of thee.", "The children born of thee are sword and fire,", "Red ruin, and the breaking up of laws,", "The craft of kindred and the Godless hosts", "Of heathen swarming o'er the Northern Sea;", "Whom I, while yet Sir Lancelot, my right arm,", "The mightiest of my knights, abode with me,", "Have everywhere about this land of Christ", "In twelve great battles ruining overthrown.", "And knowest thou now from whence I come--from him", "From waging bitter war with him: and he,", "That did not shun to smite me in worse way,", "Had yet that grace of courtesy in him left,", "He spared to lift his hand against the King", "Who made him knight: but many a knight was slain;", "And many more, and all his kith and kin", "Clave to him, and abode in his own land.", "And many more when Modred raised revolt,", "Forgetful of their troth and fealty, clave", "To Modred, and a remnant stays with me.", "And of this remnant will I leave a part,", "True men who love me still, for whom I live,", "To guard thee in the wild hour coming on,", "Lest but a hair of this low head be harmed.", "Fear not: thou shalt be guarded till my death.", "Howbeit I know, if ancient prophecies", "Have erred not, that I march to meet my doom.", "Thou hast not made my life so sweet to me,", "That I the King should greatly care to live;", "For thou hast spoilt the purpose of my life.", "Bear with me for the last time while I show,", "Even for thy sake, the sin which thou hast sinned.", "For when the Roman left us, and their law", "Relaxed its hold upon us, and the ways", "Were filled with rapine, here and there a deed", "Of prowess done redressed a random wrong.", "But I was first of all the kings who drew", "The knighthood-errant of this realm and all", "The realms together under me, their Head,", "In that fair Order of my Table Round,", "A glorious company, the flower of men,", "To serve as model for the mighty world,", "And be the fair beginning of a time.", "I made them lay their hands in mine and swear", "To reverence the King, as if he were", "Their conscience, and their conscience as their King,", "To break the heathen and uphold the Christ,", "To ride abroad redressing human wrongs,", "To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it,", "To honour his own word as if his God's,", "To lead sweet lives in purest chastity,", "To love one maiden only, cleave to her,", "And worship her by years of noble deeds,", "Until they won her; for indeed I knew", "Of no more subtle master under heaven", "Than is the maiden passion for a maid,", "Not only to keep down the base in man,", "But teach high thought, and amiable words", "And courtliness, and the desire of fame,", "And love of truth, and all that makes a man.", "And all this throve before I wedded thee,", "Believing, \"lo mine helpmate, one to feel", "My purpose and rejoicing in my joy.\"", "Then came thy shameful sin with Lancelot;", "Then came the sin of Tristram and Isolt;", "Then others, following these my mightiest knights,", "And drawing foul ensample from fair names,", "Sinned also, till the loathsome opposite", "Of all my heart had destined did obtain,", "And all through thee! so that this life of mine", "I guard as God's high gift from scathe and wrong,", "Not greatly care to lose; but rather think", "How sad it were for Arthur, should he live,", "To sit once more within his lonely hall,", "And miss the wonted number of my knights,", "And miss to hear high talk of noble deeds", "As in the golden days before thy sin.", "For which of us, who might be left, could speak", "Of the pure heart, nor seem to glance at thee?", "And in thy bowers of Camelot or of Usk", "Thy shadow still would glide from room to room,", "And I should evermore be vext with thee", "In hanging robe or vacant ornament,", "Or ghostly footfall echoing on the stair.", "For think not, though thou wouldst not love thy lord,", "Thy lord hast wholly lost his love for thee.", "I am not made of so slight elements.", "Yet must I leave thee, woman, to thy shame.", "I hold that man the worst of public foes", "Who either for his own or children's sake,", "To save his blood from scandal, lets the wife", "Whom he knows false, abide and rule the house:", "For being through his cowardice allowed", "Her station, taken everywhere for pure,", "She like a new disease, unknown to men,", "Creeps, no precaution used, among the crowd,", "Makes wicked lightnings of her eyes, and saps", "The fealty of our friends, and stirs the pulse", "With devil's leaps, and poisons half the young.", "Worst of the worst were that man he that reigns!", "Better the King's waste hearth and aching heart", "Than thou reseated in thy place of light,", "The mockery of my people, and their bane.'", "", "He paused, and in the pause she crept an inch", "Nearer, and laid her hands about his feet.", "Far off a solitary trumpet blew.", "Then waiting by the doors the warhorse neighed", "At a friend's voice, and he spake again:", "", "`Yet think not that I come to urge thy crimes,", "I did not come to curse thee, Guinevere,", "I, whose vast pity almost makes me die", "To see thee, laying there thy golden head,", "My pride in happier summers, at my feet.", "The wrath which forced my thoughts on that fierce law,", "The doom of treason and the flaming death,", "(When first I learnt thee hidden here) is past.", "The pang--which while I weighed thy heart with one", "Too wholly true to dream untruth in thee,", "Made my tears burn--is also past--in part.", "And all is past, the sin is sinned, and I,", "Lo! I forgive thee, as Eternal God", "Forgives: do thou for thine own soul the rest.", "But how to take last leave of all I loved?", "O golden hair, with which I used to play", "Not knowing! O imperial-moulded form,", "And beauty such as never woman wore,", "Until it became a kingdom's curse with thee--", "I cannot touch thy lips, they are not mine,", "But Lancelot's: nay, they never were the King's.", "I cannot take thy hand: that too is flesh,", "And in the flesh thou hast sinned; and mine own flesh,", "Here looking down on thine polluted, cries", "\"I loathe thee:\" yet not less, O Guinevere,", "For I was ever virgin save for thee,", "My love through flesh hath wrought into my life", "So far, that my doom is, I love thee still.", "Let no man dream but that I love thee still.", "Perchance, and so thou purify thy soul,", "And so thou lean on our fair father Christ,", "Hereafter in that world where all are pure", "We two may meet before high God, and thou", "Wilt spring to me, and claim me thine, and know", "I am thine husband--not a smaller soul,", "Nor Lancelot, nor another. Leave me that,", "I charge thee, my last hope. Now must I hence.", "Through the thick night I hear the trumpet blow:", "They summon me their King to lead mine hosts", "Far down to that great battle in the west,", "Where I must strike against the man they call", "My sister's son--no kin of mine, who leagues", "With Lords of the White Horse, heathen, and knights,", "Traitors--and strike him dead, and meet myself", "Death, or I know not what mysterious doom.", "And thou remaining here wilt learn the event;", "But hither shall I never come again,", "Never lie by thy side; see thee no more--", "Farewell!'", "", "And while she grovelled at his feet,", "She felt the King's breath wander o'er her neck,", "And in the darkness o'er her fallen head,", "Perceived the waving of his hands that blest.", "", "Then, listening till those armd steps were gone,", "Rose the pale Queen, and in her anguish found", "The casement: `peradventure,' so she thought,", "`If I might see his face, and not be seen.'", "And lo, he sat on horseback at the door!", "And near him the sad nuns with each a light", "Stood, and he gave them charge about the Queen,", "To guard and foster her for evermore.", "And while he spake to these his helm was lowered,", "To which for crest the golden dragon clung", "Of Britain; so she did not see the face,", "Which then was as an angel's, but she saw,", "Wet with the mists and smitten by the lights,", "The Dragon of the great Pendragonship", "Blaze, making all the night a steam of fire.", "And even then he turned; and more and more", "The moony vapour rolling round the King,", "Who seemed the phantom of a Giant in it,", "Enwound him fold by fold, and made him gray", "And grayer, till himself became as mist", "Before her, moving ghostlike to his doom.", "", "Then she stretched out her arms and cried aloud", "`Oh Arthur!' there her voice brake suddenly,", "Then--as a stream that spouting from a cliff", "Fails in mid air, but gathering at the base", "Re-makes itself, and flashes down the vale--", "Went on in passionate utterance:", "", "`Gone--my lord!", "Gone through my sin to slay and to be slain!", "And he forgave me, and I could not speak.", "Farewell? I should have answered his farewell.", "His mercy choked me. Gone, my lord the King,", "My own true lord! how dare I call him mine?", "The shadow of another cleaves to me,", "And makes me one pollution: he, the King,", "Called me polluted: shall I kill myself?", "What help in that? I cannot kill my sin,", "If soul be soul; nor can I kill my shame;", "No, nor by living can I live it down.", "The days will grow to weeks, the weeks to months", "The months will add themselves and make the years,", "The years will roll into the centuries,", "And mine will ever be a name of scorn.", "I must not dwell on that defeat of fame.", "Let the world be; that is but of the world.", "What else? what hope? I think there was a hope,", "Except he mocked me when he spake of hope;", "His hope he called it; but he never mocks,", "For mockery is the fume of little hearts.", "And blessd be the King, who hath forgiven", "My wickedness to him, and left me hope", "That in mine own heart I can live down sin", "And be his mate hereafter in the heavens", "Before high God. Ah great and gentle lord,", "Who wast, as is the conscience of a saint", "Among his warring senses, to thy knights--", "To whom my false voluptuous pride, that took", "Full easily all impressions from below,", "Would not look up, or half-despised the height", "To which I would not or I could not climb--", "I thought I could not breathe in that fine air", "That pure severity of perfect light--", "I yearned for warmth and colour which I found", "In Lancelot--now I see thee what thou art,", "Thou art the highest and most human too,", "Not Lancelot, nor another. Is there none", "Will tell the King I love him though so late?", "Now--ere he goes to the great Battle? none:", "Myself must tell him in that purer life,", "But now it were too daring. Ah my God,", "What might I not have made of thy fair world,", "Had I but loved thy highest creature here?", "It was my duty to have loved the highest:", "It surely was my profit had I known:", "It would have been my pleasure had I seen.", "We needs must love the highest when we see it,", "Not Lancelot, nor another.'", "", "Here her hand", "Grasped, made her vail her eyes: she looked and saw", "The novice, weeping, suppliant, and said to her,", "`Yea, little maid, for am I not forgiven?'", "Then glancing up beheld the holy nuns", "All round her, weeping; and her heart was loosed", "Within her, and she wept with these and said,", "", "`Ye know me then, that wicked one, who broke", "The vast design and purpose of the King.", "O shut me round with narrowing nunnery-walls,", "Meek maidens, from the voices crying \"shame.\"", "I must not scorn myself: he loves me still.", "Let no one dream but that he loves me still.", "So let me, if you do not shudder at me,", "Nor shun to call me sister, dwell with you;", "Wear black and white, and be a nun like you,", "Fast with your fasts, not feasting with your feasts;", "Grieve with your griefs, not grieving at your joys,", "But not rejoicing; mingle with your rites;", "Pray and be prayed for; lie before your shrines;", "Do each low office of your holy house;", "Walk your dim cloister, and distribute dole", "To poor sick people, richer in His eyes", "Who ransomed us, and haler too than I;", "And treat their loathsome hurts and heal mine own;", "And so wear out in almsdeed and in prayer", "The sombre close of that voluptuous day,", "Which wrought the ruin of my lord the King.'", "", "She said: they took her to themselves; and she", "Still hoping, fearing `is it yet too late?'", "Dwelt with them, till in time their Abbess died.", "Then she, for her good deeds and her pure life,", "And for the power of ministration in her,", "And likewise for the high rank she had borne,", "Was chosen Abbess, there, an Abbess, lived", "For three brief years, and there, an Abbess, past", "To where beyond these voices there is peace." ], "linecount": "698" }, { "title": "Locksley Hall", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Comrades, leave me here a little, while as yet 't is early morn:", "Leave me here, and when you want me, sound upon the bugle-horn.", "", "'T is the place, and all around it, as of old, the curlews call,", "Dreary gleams about the moorland flying over Locksley Hall;", "", "Locksley Hall, that in the distance overlooks the sandy tracts,", "And the hollow ocean-ridges roaring into cataracts.", "", "Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest,", "Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the West.", "", "Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow shade,", "Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid.", "", "Here about the beach I wander'd, nourishing a youth sublime", "With the fairy tales of science, and the long result of Time;", "", "When the centuries behind me like a fruitful land reposed;", "When I clung to all the present for the promise that it closed:", "", "When I dipt into the future far as human eye could see;", "Saw the Vision of the world and all the wonder that would be.--", "", "In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast;", "In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest;", "", "In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove;", "In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.", "", "Then her cheek was pale and thinner than should be for one so young,", "And her eyes on all my motions with a mute observance hung.", "", "And I said, \"My cousin Amy, speak, and speak the truth to me,", "Trust me, cousin, all the current of my being sets to thee.\"", "", "On her pallid cheek and forehead came a colour and a light,", "As I have seen the rosy red flushing in the northern night.", "", "And she turn'd--her bosom shaken with a sudden storm of sighs--", "All the spirit deeply dawning in the dark of hazel eyes--", "", "Saying, \"I have hid my feelings, fearing they should do me wrong\";", "Saying, \"Dost thou love me, cousin?\" weeping, \"I have loved thee long.\"", "", "Love took up the glass of Time, and turn'd it in his glowing hands;", "Every moment, lightly shaken, ran itself in golden sands.", "", "Love took up the harp of Life, and smote on all the chords with might;", "Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling, pass'd in music out of sight.", "", "Many a morning on the moorland did we hear the copses ring,", "And her whisper throng'd my pulses with the fulness of the Spring.", "", "Many an evening by the waters did we watch the stately ships,", "And our spirits rush'd together at the touching of the lips.", "", "O my cousin, shallow-hearted! O my Amy, mine no more!", "O the dreary, dreary moorland! O the barren, barren shore!", "", "Falser than all fancy fathoms, falser than all songs have sung,", "Puppet to a father's threat, and servile to a shrewish tongue!", "", "Is it well to wish thee happy?--having known me--to decline", "On a range of lower feelings and a narrower heart than mine!", "", "Yet it shall be; thou shalt lower to his level day by day,", "What is fine within thee growing coarse to sympathize with clay.", "", "As the husband is, the wife is: thou art mated with a clown,", "And the grossness of his nature will have weight to drag thee down.", "", "He will hold thee, when his passion shall have spent its novel force,", "Something better than his dog, a little dearer than his horse.", "", "What is this? his eyes are heavy; think not they are glazed with wine.", "Go to him, it is thy duty, kiss him, take his hand in thine.", "", "It may be my lord is weary, that his brain is overwrought:", "Soothe him with thy finer fancies, touch him with thy lighter thought.", "", "He will answer to the purpose, easy things to understand--", "Better thou wert dead before me, tho' I slew thee with my hand!", "", "Better thou and I were lying, hidden from the heart's disgrace,", "Roll'd in one another's arms, and silent in a last embrace.", "", "Cursed be the social wants that sin against the strength of youth!", "Cursed be the social lies that warp us from the living truth!", "", "Cursed be the sickly forms that err from honest Nature's rule!", "Cursed be the gold that gilds the straiten'd forehead of the fool!", "", "Well--'t is well that I should bluster!--Hadst thou less unworthy proved--", "Would to God--for I had loved thee more than ever wife was loved.", "", "Am I mad, that I should cherish that which bears but bitter fruit?", "I will pluck it from my bosom, tho' my heart be at the root.", "", "Never, tho' my mortal summers to such length of years should come", "As the many-winter'd crow that leads the clanging rookery home.", "", "Where is comfort? in division of the records of the mind?", "Can I part her from herself, and love her, as I knew her, kind?", "", "I remember one that perish'd; sweetly did she speak and move;", "Such a one do I remember, whom to look at was to love.", "", "Can I think of her as dead, and love her for the love she bore?", "No--she never loved me truly; love is love for evermore.", "", "Comfort? comfort scorn'd of devils! this is truth the poet sings,", "That a sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things.", "", "Drug thy memories, lest thou learn it, lest thy heart be put to proof,", "In the dead unhappy night, and when the rain is on the roof.", "", "Like a dog, he hunts in dreams, and thou art staring at the wall,", "Where the dying night-lamp flickers, and the shadows rise and fall.", "", "Then a hand shall pass before thee, pointing to his drunken sleep,", "To thy widow'd marriage-pillows, to the tears that thou wilt weep.", "", "Thou shalt hear the \"Never, never,\" whisper'd by the phantom years,", "And a song from out the distance in the ringing of thine ears;", "", "And an eye shall vex thee, looking ancient kindness on thy pain.", "Turn thee, turn thee on thy pillow; get thee to thy rest again.", "", "Nay, but Nature brings thee solace; for a tender voice will cry.", "'T is a purer life than thine, a lip to drain thy trouble dry.", "", "Baby lips will laugh me down; my latest rival brings thee rest.", "Baby fingers, waxen touches, press me from the mother's breast.", "", "O, the child too clothes the father with a dearness not his due.", "Half is thine and half is his: it will be worthy of the two.", "", "O, I see thee old and formal, fitted to thy petty part,", "With a little hoard of maxims preaching down a daughter's heart.", "", "\"They were dangerous guides the feelings--she herself was not exempt--", "Truly, she herself had suffer'd\"--Perish in thy self-contempt!", "", "Overlive it--lower yet--be happy! wherefore should I care?", "I myself must mix with action, lest I wither by despair.", "", "What is that which I should turn to, lighting upon days like these?", "Every door is barr'd with gold, and opens but to golden keys.", "", "Every gate is throng'd with suitors, all the markets overflow.", "I have but an angry fancy; what is that which I should do?", "", "I had been content to perish, falling on the foeman's ground,", "When the ranks are roll'd in vapour, and the winds are laid with sound.", "", "But the jingling of the guinea helps the hurt that Honour feels,", "And the nations do but murmur, snarling at each other's heels.", "", "Can I but relive in sadness? I will turn that earlier page.", "Hide me from my deep emotion, O thou wondrous Mother-Age!", "", "Make me feel the wild pulsation that I felt before the strife,", "When I heard my days before me, and the tumult of my life;", "", "Yearning for the large excitement that the coming years would yield,", "Eager-hearted as a boy when first he leaves his father's field,", "", "And at night along the dusky highway near and nearer drawn,", "Sees in heaven the light of London flaring like a dreary dawn;", "", "And his spirit leaps within him to be gone before him then,", "Underneath the light he looks at, in among the throngs of men:", "", "Men, my brothers, men the workers, ever reaping something new:", "That which they have done but earnest of the things that they shall do:", "", "For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,", "Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;", "", "Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,", "Pilots of the purple twilight dropping down with costly bales;", "", "Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew", "From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;", "", "Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm,", "With the standards of the peoples plunging thro' the thunder-storm;", "", "Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd", "In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.", "", "There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe,", "And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law.", "", "So I triumph'd ere my passion sweeping thro' me left me dry,", "Left me with the palsied heart, and left me with the jaundiced eye;", "", "Eye, to which all order festers, all things here are out of joint:", "Science moves, but slowly, slowly, creeping on from point to point:", "", "Slowly comes a hungry people, as a lion, creeping nigher,", "Glares at one that nods and winks behind a slowly-dying fire.", "", "Yet I doubt not thro' the ages one increasing purpose runs,", "And the thoughts of men are widen'd with the process of the suns.", "", "What is that to him that reaps not harvest of his youthful joys,", "Tho' the deep heart of existence beat for ever like a boy's?", "", "Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers, and I linger on the shore,", "And the individual withers, and the world is more and more.", "", "Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers, and he bears a laden breast,", "Full of sad experience, moving toward the stillness of his rest.", "", "Hark, my merry comrades call me, sounding on the bugle-horn,", "They to whom my foolish passion were a target for their scorn:", "", "Shall it not be scorn to me to harp on such a moulder'd string?", "I am shamed thro' all my nature to have loved so slight a thing.", "", "Weakness to be wroth with weakness! woman's pleasure, woman's pain--", "Nature made them blinder motions bounded in a shallower brain:", "", "Woman is the lesser man, and all thy passions, match'd with mine,", "Are as moonlight unto sunlight, and as water unto wine--", "", "Here at least, where nature sickens, nothing. Ah, for some retreat", "Deep in yonder shining Orient, where my life began to beat;", "", "Where in wild Mahratta-battle fell my father evil-starr'd,--", "I was left a trampled orphan, and a selfish uncle's ward.", "", "Or to burst all links of habit--there to wander far away,", "On from island unto island at the gateways of the day.", "", "Larger constellations burning, mellow moons and happy skies,", "Breadths of tropic shade and palms in cluster, knots of Paradise.", "", "Never comes the trader, never floats an European flag,", "Slides the bird o'er lustrous woodland, swings the trailer from the crag;", "", "Droops the heavy-blossom'd bower, hangs the heavy-fruited tree--", "Summer isles of Eden lying in dark-purple spheres of sea.", "", "There methinks would be enjoyment more than in this march of mind,", "In the steamship, in the railway, in the thoughts that shake mankind.", "", "There the passions cramp'd no longer shall have scope and breathing space;", "I will take some savage woman, she shall rear my dusky race.", "", "Iron-jointed, supple-sinew'd, they shall dive, and they shall run,", "Catch the wild goat by the hair, and hurl their lances in the sun;", "", "Whistle back the parrot's call, and leap the rainbows of the brooks,", "Not with blinded eyesight poring over miserable books--", "", "Fool, again the dream, the fancy! but I know my words are wild,", "But I count the gray barbarian lower than the Christian child.", "", "I, to herd with narrow foreheads, vacant of our glorious gains,", "Like a beast with lower pleasures, like a beast with lower pains!", "", "Mated with a squalid savage--what to me were sun or clime?", "I the heir of all the ages, in the foremost files of time--", "", "I that rather held it better men should perish one by one,", "Than that earth should stand at gaze like Joshua's moon in Ajalon!", "", "Not in vain the distance beacons. Forward, forward let us range,", "Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change.", "", "Thro' the shadow of the globe we sweep into the younger day;", "Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.", "", "Mother-Age (for mine I knew not) help me as when life begun:", "Rift the hills, and roll the waters, flash the lightnings, weigh the Sun.", "", "O, I see the crescent promise of my spirit hath not set.", "Ancient founts of inspiration well thro' all my fancy yet.", "", "Howsoever these things be, a long farewell to Locksley Hall!", "Now for me the woods may wither, now for me the roof-tree fall.", "", "Comes a vapour from the margin, blackening over heath and holt,", "Cramming all the blast before it, in its breast a thunderbolt.", "", "Let it fall on Locksley Hall, with rain or hail, or fire or snow;", "For the mighty wind arises, roaring seaward, and I go." ], "linecount": "194" }, { "title": "Geraint And Enid", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "O purblind race of miserable men,", "How many among us at this very hour", "Do forge a life-long trouble for ourselves,", "By taking true for false, or false for true;", "Here, through the feeble twilight of this world", "Groping, how many, until we pass and reach", "That other, where we see as we are seen!", "", "So fared it with Geraint, who issuing forth", "That morning, when they both had got to horse,", "Perhaps because he loved her passionately,", "And felt that tempest brooding round his heart,", "Which, if he spoke at all, would break perforce", "Upon a head so dear in thunder, said:", "'Not at my side. I charge thee ride before,", "Ever a good way on before; and this", "I charge thee, on thy duty as a wife,", "Whatever happens, not to speak to me,", "No, not a word!' and Enid was aghast;", "And forth they rode, but scarce three paces on,", "When crying out, 'Effeminate as I am,", "I will not fight my way with gilded arms,", "All shall be iron;' he loosed a mighty purse,", "Hung at his belt, and hurled it toward the squire.", "So the last sight that Enid had of home", "Was all the marble threshold flashing, strown", "With gold and scattered coinage, and the squire", "Chafing his shoulder: then he cried again,", "'To the wilds!' and Enid leading down the tracks", "Through which he bad her lead him on, they past", "The marches, and by bandit-haunted holds,", "Gray swamps and pools, waste places of the hern,", "And wildernesses, perilous paths, they rode:", "Round was their pace at first, but slackened soon:", "A stranger meeting them had surely thought", "They rode so slowly and they looked so pale,", "That each had suffered some exceeding wrong.", "For he was ever saying to himself,", "'O I that wasted time to tend upon her,", "To compass her with sweet observances,", "To dress her beautifully and keep her true'--", "And there he broke the sentence in his heart", "Abruptly, as a man upon his tongue", "May break it, when his passion masters him.", "And she was ever praying the sweet heavens", "To save her dear lord whole from any wound.", "And ever in her mind she cast about", "For that unnoticed failing in herself,", "Which made him look so cloudy and so cold;", "Till the great plover's human whistle amazed", "Her heart, and glancing round the waste she feared", "In ever wavering brake an ambuscade.", "Then thought again, 'If there be such in me,", "I might amend it by the grace of Heaven,", "If he would only speak and tell me of it.'", "", "But when the fourth part of the day was gone,", "Then Enid was aware of three tall knights", "On horseback, wholly armed, behind a rock", "In shadow, waiting for them, caitiffs all;", "And heard one crying to his fellow, 'Look,", "Here comes a laggard hanging down his head,", "Who seems no bolder than a beaten hound;", "Come, we will slay him and will have his horse", "And armour, and his damsel shall be ours.'", "", "Then Enid pondered in her heart, and said:", "'I will go back a little to my lord,", "And I will tell him all their caitiff talk;", "For, be he wroth even to slaying me,", "Far liefer by his dear hand had I die,", "Than that my lord should suffer loss or shame.'", "", "Then she went back some paces of return,", "Met his full frown timidly firm, and said;", "'My lord, I saw three bandits by the rock", "Waiting to fall on you, and heard them boast", "That they would slay you, and possess your horse", "And armour, and your damsel should be theirs.'", "", "He made a wrathful answer: 'Did I wish", "Your warning or your silence? one command", "I laid upon you, not to speak to me,", "And thus ye keep it! Well then, look--for now,", "Whether ye wish me victory or defeat,", "Long for my life, or hunger for my death,", "Yourself shall see my vigour is not lost.'", "", "Then Enid waited pale and sorrowful,", "And down upon him bare the bandit three.", "And at the midmost charging, Prince Geraint", "Drave the long spear a cubit through his breast", "And out beyond; and then against his brace", "Of comrades, each of whom had broken on him", "A lance that splintered like an icicle,", "Swung from his brand a windy buffet out", "Once, twice, to right, to left, and stunned the twain", "Or slew them, and dismounting like a man", "That skins the wild beast after slaying him,", "Stript from the three dead wolves of woman born", "The three gay suits of armour which they wore,", "And let the bodies lie, but bound the suits", "Of armour on their horses, each on each,", "And tied the bridle-reins of all the three", "Together, and said to her, 'Drive them on", "Before you;' and she drove them through the waste.", "", "He followed nearer; ruth began to work", "Against his anger in him, while he watched", "The being he loved best in all the world,", "With difficulty in mild obedience", "Driving them on: he fain had spoken to her,", "And loosed in words of sudden fire the wrath", "And smouldered wrong that burnt him all within;", "But evermore it seemed an easier thing", "At once without remorse to strike her dead,", "Than to cry 'Halt,' and to her own bright face", "Accuse her of the least immodesty:", "And thus tongue-tied, it made him wroth the more", "That she COULD speak whom his own ear had heard", "Call herself false: and suffering thus he made", "Minutes an age: but in scarce longer time", "Than at Caerleon the full-tided Usk,", "Before he turn to fall seaward again,", "Pauses, did Enid, keeping watch, behold", "In the first shallow shade of a deep wood,", "Before a gloom of stubborn-shafted oaks,", "Three other horsemen waiting, wholly armed,", "Whereof one seemed far larger than her lord,", "And shook her pulses, crying, 'Look, a prize!", "Three horses and three goodly suits of arms,", "And all in charge of whom? a girl: set on.'", "'Nay,' said the second, 'yonder comes a knight.'", "The third, 'A craven; how he hangs his head.'", "The giant answered merrily, 'Yea, but one?", "Wait here, and when he passes fall upon him.'", "", "And Enid pondered in her heart and said,", "'I will abide the coming of my lord,", "And I will tell him all their villainy.", "My lord is weary with the fight before,", "And they will fall upon him unawares.", "I needs must disobey him for his good;", "How should I dare obey him to his harm?", "Needs must I speak, and though he kill me for it,", "I save a life dearer to me than mine.'", "", "And she abode his coming, and said to him", "With timid firmness, 'Have I leave to speak?'", "He said, 'Ye take it, speaking,' and she spoke.", "", "'There lurk three villains yonder in the wood,", "And each of them is wholly armed, and one", "Is larger-limbed than you are, and they say", "That they will fall upon you while ye pass.'", "", "To which he flung a wrathful answer back:", "'And if there were an hundred in the wood,", "And every man were larger-limbed than I,", "And all at once should sally out upon me,", "I swear it would not ruffle me so much", "As you that not obey me. Stand aside,", "And if I fall, cleave to the better man.'", "", "And Enid stood aside to wait the event,", "Not dare to watch the combat, only breathe", "Short fits of prayer, at every stroke a breath.", "And he, she dreaded most, bare down upon him.", "Aimed at the helm, his lance erred; but Geraint's,", "A little in the late encounter strained,", "Struck through the bulky bandit's corselet home,", "And then brake short, and down his enemy rolled,", "And there lay still; as he that tells the tale", "Saw once a great piece of a promontory,", "That had a sapling growing on it, slide", "From the long shore-cliff's windy walls to the beach,", "And there lie still, and yet the sapling grew:", "So lay the man transfixt. His craven pair", "Of comrades making slowlier at the Prince,", "When now they saw their bulwark fallen, stood;", "On whom the victor, to confound them more,", "Spurred with his terrible war-cry; for as one,", "That listens near a torrent mountain-brook,", "All through the crash of the near cataract hears", "The drumming thunder of the huger fall", "At distance, were the soldiers wont to hear", "His voice in battle, and be kindled by it,", "And foemen scared, like that false pair who turned", "Flying, but, overtaken, died the death", "Themselves had wrought on many an innocent.", "", "Thereon Geraint, dismounting, picked the lance", "That pleased him best, and drew from those dead wolves", "Their three gay suits of armour, each from each,", "And bound them on their horses, each on each,", "And tied the bridle-reins of all the three", "Together, and said to her, 'Drive them on", "Before you,' and she drove them through the wood.", "", "He followed nearer still: the pain she had", "To keep them in the wild ways of the wood,", "Two sets of three laden with jingling arms,", "Together, served a little to disedge", "The sharpness of that pain about her heart:", "And they themselves, like creatures gently born", "But into bad hands fallen, and now so long", "By bandits groomed, pricked their light ears, and felt", "Her low firm voice and tender government.", "", "So through the green gloom of the wood they past,", "And issuing under open heavens beheld", "A little town with towers, upon a rock,", "And close beneath, a meadow gemlike chased", "In the brown wild, and mowers mowing in it:", "And down a rocky pathway from the place", "There came a fair-haired youth, that in his hand", "Bare victual for the mowers: and Geraint", "Had ruth again on Enid looking pale:", "Then, moving downward to the meadow ground,", "He, when the fair-haired youth came by him, said,", "'Friend, let her eat; the damsel is so faint.'", "'Yea, willingly,' replied the youth; 'and thou,", "My lord, eat also, though the fare is coarse,", "And only meet for mowers;' then set down", "His basket, and dismounting on the sward", "They let the horses graze, and ate themselves.", "And Enid took a little delicately,", "Less having stomach for it than desire", "To close with her lord's pleasure; but Geraint", "Ate all the mowers' victual unawares,", "And when he found all empty, was amazed;", "And 'Boy,' said he, 'I have eaten all, but take", "A horse and arms for guerdon; choose the best.'", "He, reddening in extremity of delight,", "'My lord, you overpay me fifty-fold.'", "'Ye will be all the wealthier,' cried the Prince.", "'I take it as free gift, then,' said the boy,", "'Not guerdon; for myself can easily,", "While your good damsel rests, return, and fetch", "Fresh victual for these mowers of our Earl;", "For these are his, and all the field is his,", "And I myself am his; and I will tell him", "How great a man thou art: he loves to know", "When men of mark are in his territory:", "And he will have thee to his palace here,", "And serve thee costlier than with mowers' fare.'", "", "Then said Geraint, 'I wish no better fare:", "I never ate with angrier appetite", "Than when I left your mowers dinnerless.", "And into no Earl's palace will I go.", "I know, God knows, too much of palaces!", "And if he want me, let him come to me.", "But hire us some fair chamber for the night,", "And stalling for the horses, and return", "With victual for these men, and let us know.'", "", "'Yea, my kind lord,' said the glad youth, and went,", "Held his head high, and thought himself a knight,", "And up the rocky pathway disappeared,", "Leading the horse, and they were left alone.", "", "But when the Prince had brought his errant eyes", "Home from the rock, sideways he let them glance", "At Enid, where she droopt: his own false doom,", "That shadow of mistrust should never cross", "Betwixt them, came upon him, and he sighed;", "Then with another humorous ruth remarked", "The lusty mowers labouring dinnerless,", "And watched the sun blaze on the turning scythe,", "And after nodded sleepily in the heat.", "But she, remembering her old ruined hall,", "And all the windy clamour of the daws", "About her hollow turret, plucked the grass", "There growing longest by the meadow's edge,", "And into many a listless annulet,", "Now over, now beneath her marriage ring,", "Wove and unwove it, till the boy returned", "And told them of a chamber, and they went;", "Where, after saying to her, 'If ye will,", "Call for the woman of the house,' to which", "She answered, 'Thanks, my lord;' the two remained", "Apart by all the chamber's width, and mute", "As two creatures voiceless through the fault of birth,", "Or two wild men supporters of a shield,", "Painted, who stare at open space, nor glance", "The one at other, parted by the shield.", "", "On a sudden, many a voice along the street,", "And heel against the pavement echoing, burst", "Their drowse; and either started while the door,", "Pushed from without, drave backward to the wall,", "And midmost of a rout of roisterers,", "Femininely fair and dissolutely pale,", "Her suitor in old years before Geraint,", "Entered, the wild lord of the place, Limours.", "He moving up with pliant courtliness,", "Greeted Geraint full face, but stealthily,", "In the mid-warmth of welcome and graspt hand,", "Found Enid with the corner of his eye,", "And knew her sitting sad and solitary.", "Then cried Geraint for wine and goodly cheer", "To feed the sudden guest, and sumptuously", "According to his fashion, bad the host", "Call in what men soever were his friends,", "And feast with these in honour of their Earl;", "'And care not for the cost; the cost is mine.'", "", "And wine and food were brought, and Earl Limours", "Drank till he jested with all ease, and told", "Free tales, and took the word and played upon it,", "And made it of two colours; for his talk,", "When wine and free companions kindled him,", "Was wont to glance and sparkle like a gem", "Of fifty facets; thus he moved the Prince", "To laughter and his comrades to applause.", "Then, when the Prince was merry, asked Limours,", "'Your leave, my lord, to cross the room, and speak", "To your good damsel there who sits apart,", "And seems so lonely?' 'My free leave,' he said;", "'Get her to speak: she doth not speak to me.'", "Then rose Limours, and looking at his feet,", "Like him who tries the bridge he fears may fail,", "Crost and came near, lifted adoring eyes,", "Bowed at her side and uttered whisperingly:", "", "'Enid, the pilot star of my lone life,", "Enid, my early and my only love,", "Enid, the loss of whom hath turned me wild--", "What chance is this? how is it I see you here?", "Ye are in my power at last, are in my power.", "Yet fear me not: I call mine own self wild,", "But keep a touch of sweet civility", "Here in the heart of waste and wilderness.", "I thought, but that your father came between,", "In former days you saw me favourably.", "And if it were so do not keep it back:", "Make me a little happier: let me know it:", "Owe you me nothing for a life half-lost?", "Yea, yea, the whole dear debt of all you are.", "And, Enid, you and he, I see with joy,", "Ye sit apart, you do not speak to him,", "You come with no attendance, page or maid,", "To serve you--doth he love you as of old?", "For, call it lovers' quarrels, yet I know", "Though men may bicker with the things they love,", "They would not make them laughable in all eyes,", "Not while they loved them; and your wretched dress,", "A wretched insult on you, dumbly speaks", "Your story, that this man loves you no more.", "Your beauty is no beauty to him now:", "A common chance--right well I know it--palled--", "For I know men: nor will ye win him back,", "For the man's love once gone never returns.", "But here is one who loves you as of old;", "With more exceeding passion than of old:", "Good, speak the word: my followers ring him round:", "He sits unarmed; I hold a finger up;", "They understand: nay; I do not mean blood:", "Nor need ye look so scared at what I say:", "My malice is no deeper than a moat,", "No stronger than a wall: there is the keep;", "He shall not cross us more; speak but the word:", "Or speak it not; but then by Him that made me", "The one true lover whom you ever owned,", "I will make use of all the power I have.", "O pardon me! the madness of that hour,", "When first I parted from thee, moves me yet.'", "", "At this the tender sound of his own voice", "And sweet self-pity, or the fancy of it,", "Made his eye moist; but Enid feared his eyes,", "Moist as they were, wine-heated from the feast;", "And answered with such craft as women use,", "Guilty or guiltless, to stave off a chance", "That breaks upon them perilously, and said:", "", "'Earl, if you love me as in former years,", "And do not practise on me, come with morn,", "And snatch me from him as by violence;", "Leave me tonight: I am weary to the death.'", "", "Low at leave-taking, with his brandished plume", "Brushing his instep, bowed the all-amorous Earl,", "And the stout Prince bad him a loud good-night.", "He moving homeward babbled to his men,", "How Enid never loved a man but him,", "Nor cared a broken egg-shell for her lord.", "", "But Enid left alone with Prince Geraint,", "Debating his command of silence given,", "And that she now perforce must violate it,", "Held commune with herself, and while she held", "He fell asleep, and Enid had no heart", "To wake him, but hung o'er him, wholly pleased", "To find him yet unwounded after fight,", "And hear him breathing low and equally.", "Anon she rose, and stepping lightly, heaped", "The pieces of his armour in one place,", "All to be there against a sudden need;", "Then dozed awhile herself, but overtoiled", "By that day's grief and travel, evermore", "Seemed catching at a rootless thorn, and then", "Went slipping down horrible precipices,", "And strongly striking out her limbs awoke;", "Then thought she heard the wild Earl at the door,", "With all his rout of random followers,", "Sound on a dreadful trumpet, summoning her;", "Which was the red cock shouting to the light,", "As the gray dawn stole o'er the dewy world,", "And glimmered on his armour in the room.", "And once again she rose to look at it,", "But touched it unawares: jangling, the casque", "Fell, and he started up and stared at her.", "Then breaking his command of silence given,", "She told him all that Earl Limours had said,", "Except the passage that he loved her not;", "Nor left untold the craft herself had used;", "But ended with apology so sweet,", "Low-spoken, and of so few words, and seemed", "So justified by that necessity,", "That though he thought 'was it for him she wept", "In Devon?' he but gave a wrathful groan,", "Saying, 'Your sweet faces make good fellows fools", "And traitors. Call the host and bid him bring", "Charger and palfrey.' So she glided out", "Among the heavy breathings of the house,", "And like a household Spirit at the walls", "Beat, till she woke the sleepers, and returned:", "Then tending her rough lord, though all unasked,", "In silence, did him service as a squire;", "Till issuing armed he found the host and cried,", "'Thy reckoning, friend?' and ere he learnt it, 'Take", "Five horses and their armours;' and the host", "Suddenly honest, answered in amaze,", "'My lord, I scarce have spent the worth of one!'", "'Ye will be all the wealthier,' said the Prince,", "And then to Enid, 'Forward! and today", "I charge you, Enid, more especially,", "What thing soever ye may hear, or see,", "Or fancy (though I count it of small use", "To charge you) that ye speak not but obey.'", "", "And Enid answered, 'Yea, my lord, I know", "Your wish, and would obey; but riding first,", "I hear the violent threats you do not hear,", "I see the danger which you cannot see:", "Then not to give you warning, that seems hard;", "Almost beyond me: yet I would obey.'", "", "'Yea so,' said he, 'do it: be not too wise;", "Seeing that ye are wedded to a man,", "Not all mismated with a yawning clown,", "But one with arms to guard his head and yours,", "With eyes to find you out however far,", "And ears to hear you even in his dreams.'", "", "With that he turned and looked as keenly at her", "As careful robins eye the delver's toil;", "And that within her, which a wanton fool,", "Or hasty judger would have called her guilt,", "Made her cheek burn and either eyelid fall.", "And Geraint looked and was not satisfied.", "", "Then forward by a way which, beaten broad,", "Led from the territory of false Limours", "To the waste earldom of another earl,", "Doorm, whom his shaking vassals called the Bull,", "Went Enid with her sullen follower on.", "Once she looked back, and when she saw him ride", "More near by many a rood than yestermorn,", "It wellnigh made her cheerful; till Geraint", "Waving an angry hand as who should say", "'Ye watch me,' saddened all her heart again.", "But while the sun yet beat a dewy blade,", "The sound of many a heavily-galloping hoof", "Smote on her ear, and turning round she saw", "Dust, and the points of lances bicker in it.", "Then not to disobey her lord's behest,", "And yet to give him warning, for he rode", "As if he heard not, moving back she held", "Her finger up, and pointed to the dust.", "At which the warrior in his obstinacy,", "Because she kept the letter of his word,", "Was in a manner pleased, and turning, stood.", "And in the moment after, wild Limours,", "Borne on a black horse, like a thunder-cloud", "Whose skirts are loosened by the breaking storm,", "Half ridden off with by the thing he rode,", "And all in passion uttering a dry shriek,", "Dashed down on Geraint, who closed with him, and bore", "Down by the length of lance and arm beyond", "The crupper, and so left him stunned or dead,", "And overthrew the next that followed him,", "And blindly rushed on all the rout behind.", "But at the flash and motion of the man", "They vanished panic-stricken, like a shoal", "Of darting fish, that on a summer morn", "Adown the crystal dykes at Camelot", "Come slipping o'er their shadows on the sand,", "But if a man who stands upon the brink", "But lift a shining hand against the sun,", "There is not left the twinkle of a fin", "Betwixt the cressy islets white in flower;", "So, scared but at the motion of the man,", "Fled all the boon companions of the Earl,", "And left him lying in the public way;", "So vanish friendships only made in wine.", "", "Then like a stormy sunlight smiled Geraint,", "Who saw the chargers of the two that fell", "Start from their fallen lords, and wildly fly,", "Mixt with the flyers. 'Horse and man,' he said,", "'All of one mind and all right-honest friends!", "Not a hoof left: and I methinks till now", "Was honest--paid with horses and with arms;", "I cannot steal or plunder, no nor beg:", "And so what say ye, shall we strip him there", "Your lover? has your palfrey heart enough", "To bear his armour? shall we fast, or dine?", "No?--then do thou, being right honest, pray", "That we may meet the horsemen of Earl Doorm,", "I too would still be honest.' Thus he said:", "And sadly gazing on her bridle-reins,", "And answering not one word, she led the way.", "", "But as a man to whom a dreadful loss", "Falls in a far land and he knows it not,", "But coming back he learns it, and the loss", "So pains him that he sickens nigh to death;", "So fared it with Geraint, who being pricked", "In combat with the follower of Limours,", "Bled underneath his armour secretly,", "And so rode on, nor told his gentle wife", "What ailed him, hardly knowing it himself,", "Till his eye darkened and his helmet wagged;", "And at a sudden swerving of the road,", "Though happily down on a bank of grass,", "The Prince, without a word, from his horse fell.", "", "And Enid heard the clashing of his fall,", "Suddenly came, and at his side all pale", "Dismounting, loosed the fastenings of his arms,", "Nor let her true hand falter, nor blue eye", "Moisten, till she had lighted on his wound,", "And tearing off her veil of faded silk", "Had bared her forehead to the blistering sun,", "And swathed the hurt that drained her dear lord's life.", "Then after all was done that hand could do,", "She rested, and her desolation came", "Upon her, and she wept beside the way.", "", "And many past, but none regarded her,", "For in that realm of lawless turbulence,", "A woman weeping for her murdered mate", "Was cared as much for as a summer shower:", "One took him for a victim of Earl Doorm,", "Nor dared to waste a perilous pity on him:", "Another hurrying past, a man-at-arms,", "Rode on a mission to the bandit Earl;", "Half whistling and half singing a coarse song,", "He drove the dust against her veilless eyes:", "Another, flying from the wrath of Doorm", "Before an ever-fancied arrow, made", "The long way smoke beneath him in his fear;", "At which her palfrey whinnying lifted heel,", "And scoured into the coppices and was lost,", "While the great charger stood, grieved like a man.", "", "But at the point of noon the huge Earl Doorm,", "Broad-faced with under-fringe of russet beard,", "Bound on a foray, rolling eyes of prey,", "Came riding with a hundred lances up;", "But ere he came, like one that hails a ship,", "Cried out with a big voice, 'What, is he dead?'", "'No, no, not dead!' she answered in all haste.", "'Would some of your people take him up,", "And bear him hence out of this cruel sun?", "Most sure am I, quite sure, he is not dead.'", "", "Then said Earl Doorm: 'Well, if he be not dead,", "Why wail ye for him thus? ye seem a child.", "And be he dead, I count you for a fool;", "Your wailing will not quicken him: dead or not,", "Ye mar a comely face with idiot tears.", "Yet, since the face IS comely--some of you,", "Here, take him up, and bear him to our hall:", "An if he live, we will have him of our band;", "And if he die, why earth has earth enough", "To hide him. See ye take the charger too,", "A noble one.'", "He spake, and past away,", "But left two brawny spearmen, who advanced,", "Each growling like a dog, when his good bone", "Seems to be plucked at by the village boys", "Who love to vex him eating, and he fears", "To lose his bone, and lays his foot upon it,", "Gnawing and growling: so the ruffians growled,", "Fearing to lose, and all for a dead man,", "Their chance of booty from the morning's raid,", "Yet raised and laid him on a litter-bier,", "Such as they brought upon their forays out", "For those that might be wounded; laid him on it", "All in the hollow of his shield, and took", "And bore him to the naked hall of Doorm,", "(His gentle charger following him unled)", "And cast him and the bier in which he lay", "Down on an oaken settle in the hall,", "And then departed, hot in haste to join", "Their luckier mates, but growling as before,", "And cursing their lost time, and the dead man,", "And their own Earl, and their own souls, and her.", "They might as well have blest her: she was deaf", "To blessing or to cursing save from one.", "", "So for long hours sat Enid by her lord,", "There in the naked hall, propping his head,", "And chafing his pale hands, and calling to him.", "Till at the last he wakened from his swoon,", "And found his own dear bride propping his head,", "And chafing his faint hands, and calling to him;", "And felt the warm tears falling on his face;", "And said to his own heart, 'She weeps for me:'", "And yet lay still, and feigned himself as dead,", "That he might prove her to the uttermost,", "And say to his own heart, 'She weeps for me.'", "", "But in the falling afternoon returned", "The huge Earl Doorm with plunder to the hall.", "His lusty spearmen followed him with noise:", "Each hurling down a heap of things that rang", "Against his pavement, cast his lance aside,", "And doffed his helm: and then there fluttered in,", "Half-bold, half-frighted, with dilated eyes,", "A tribe of women, dressed in many hues,", "And mingled with the spearmen: and Earl Doorm", "Struck with a knife's haft hard against the board,", "And called for flesh and wine to feed his spears.", "And men brought in whole hogs and quarter beeves,", "And all the hall was dim with steam of flesh:", "And none spake word, but all sat down at once,", "And ate with tumult in the naked hall,", "Feeding like horses when you hear them feed;", "Till Enid shrank far back into herself,", "To shun the wild ways of the lawless tribe.", "But when Earl Doorm had eaten all he would,", "He rolled his eyes about the hall, and found", "A damsel drooping in a corner of it.", "Then he remembered her, and how she wept;", "And out of her there came a power upon him;", "And rising on the sudden he said, 'Eat!", "I never yet beheld a thing so pale.", "God's curse, it makes me mad to see you weep.", "Eat! Look yourself. Good luck had your good man,", "For were I dead who is it would weep for me?", "Sweet lady, never since I first drew breath", "Have I beheld a lily like yourself.", "And so there lived some colour in your cheek,", "There is not one among my gentlewomen", "Were fit to wear your slipper for a glove.", "But listen to me, and by me be ruled,", "And I will do the thing I have not done,", "For ye shall share my earldom with me, girl,", "And we will live like two birds in one nest,", "And I will fetch you forage from all fields,", "For I compel all creatures to my will.'", "", "He spoke: the brawny spearman let his cheek", "Bulge with the unswallowed piece, and turning stared;", "While some, whose souls the old serpent long had drawn", "Down, as the worm draws in the withered leaf", "And makes it earth, hissed each at other's ear", "What shall not be recorded--women they,", "Women, or what had been those gracious things,", "But now desired the humbling of their best,", "Yea, would have helped him to it: and all at once", "They hated her, who took no thought of them,", "But answered in low voice, her meek head yet", "Drooping, 'I pray you of your courtesy,", "He being as he is, to let me be.'", "", "She spake so low he hardly heard her speak,", "But like a mighty patron, satisfied", "With what himself had done so graciously,", "Assumed that she had thanked him, adding, 'Yea,", "Eat and be glad, for I account you mine.'", "", "She answered meekly, 'How should I be glad", "Henceforth in all the world at anything,", "Until my lord arise and look upon me?'", "", "Here the huge Earl cried out upon her talk,", "As all but empty heart and weariness", "And sickly nothing; suddenly seized on her,", "And bare her by main violence to the board,", "And thrust the dish before her, crying, 'Eat.'", "", "'No, no,' said Enid, vext, 'I will not eat", "Till yonder man upon the bier arise,", "And eat with me.' 'Drink, then,' he answered. 'Here!'", "(And filled a horn with wine and held it to her,)", "'Lo! I, myself, when flushed with fight, or hot,", "God's curse, with anger--often I myself,", "Before I well have drunken, scarce can eat:", "Drink therefore and the wine will change thy will.'", "", "'Not so,' she cried, 'by Heaven, I will not drink", "Till my dear lord arise and bid me do it,", "And drink with me; and if he rise no more,", "I will not look at wine until I die.'", "", "At this he turned all red and paced his hall,", "Now gnawed his under, now his upper lip,", "And coming up close to her, said at last:", "'Girl, for I see ye scorn my courtesies,", "Take warning: yonder man is surely dead;", "And I compel all creatures to my will.", "Not eat nor drink? And wherefore wail for one,", "Who put your beauty to this flout and scorn", "By dressing it in rags? Amazed am I,", "Beholding how ye butt against my wish,", "That I forbear you thus: cross me no more.", "At least put off to please me this poor gown,", "This silken rag, this beggar-woman's weed:", "I love that beauty should go beautifully:", "For see ye not my gentlewomen here,", "How gay, how suited to the house of one", "Who loves that beauty should go beautifully?", "Rise therefore; robe yourself in this: obey.'", "", "He spoke, and one among his gentlewomen", "Displayed a splendid silk of foreign loom,", "Where like a shoaling sea the lovely blue", "Played into green, and thicker down the front", "With jewels than the sward with drops of dew,", "When all night long a cloud clings to the hill,", "And with the dawn ascending lets the day", "Strike where it clung: so thickly shone the gems.", "", "But Enid answered, harder to be moved", "Than hardest tyrants in their day of power,", "With life-long injuries burning unavenged,", "And now their hour has come; and Enid said:", "", "'In this poor gown my dear lord found me first,", "And loved me serving in my father's hall:", "In this poor gown I rode with him to court,", "And there the Queen arrayed me like the sun:", "In this poor gown he bad me clothe myself,", "When now we rode upon this fatal quest", "Of honour, where no honour can be gained:", "And this poor gown I will not cast aside", "Until himself arise a living man,", "And bid me cast it. I have griefs enough:", "Pray you be gentle, pray you let me be:", "I never loved, can never love but him:", "Yea, God, I pray you of your gentleness,", "He being as he is, to let me be.'", "", "Then strode the brute Earl up and down his hall,", "And took his russet beard between his teeth;", "Last, coming up quite close, and in his mood", "Crying, 'I count it of no more avail,", "Dame, to be gentle than ungentle with you;", "Take my salute,' unknightly with flat hand,", "However lightly, smote her on the cheek.", "", "Then Enid, in her utter helplessness,", "And since she thought, 'He had not dared to do it,", "Except he surely knew my lord was dead,'", "Sent forth a sudden sharp and bitter cry,", "As of a wild thing taken in the trap,", "Which sees the trapper coming through the wood.", "", "This heard Geraint, and grasping at his sword,", "(It lay beside him in the hollow shield),", "Made but a single bound, and with a sweep of it", "Shore through the swarthy neck, and like a ball", "The russet-bearded head rolled on the floor.", "So died Earl Doorm by him he counted dead.", "And all the men and women in the hall", "Rose when they saw the dead man rise, and fled", "Yelling as from a spectre, and the two", "Were left alone together, and he said:", "", "'Enid, I have used you worse than that dead man;", "Done you more wrong: we both have undergone", "That trouble which has left me thrice your own:", "Henceforward I will rather die than doubt.", "And here I lay this penance on myself,", "Not, though mine own ears heard you yestermorn--", "You thought me sleeping, but I heard you say,", "I heard you say, that you were no true wife:", "I swear I will not ask your meaning in it:", "I do believe yourself against yourself,", "And will henceforward rather die than doubt.'", "", "And Enid could not say one tender word,", "She felt so blunt and stupid at the heart:", "She only prayed him, 'Fly, they will return", "And slay you; fly, your charger is without,", "My palfrey lost.' 'Then, Enid, shall you ride", "Behind me.' 'Yea,' said Enid, 'let us go.'", "And moving out they found the stately horse,", "Who now no more a vassal to the thief,", "But free to stretch his limbs in lawful fight,", "Neighed with all gladness as they came, and stooped", "With a low whinny toward the pair: and she", "Kissed the white star upon his noble front,", "Glad also; then Geraint upon the horse", "Mounted, and reached a hand, and on his foot", "She set her own and climbed; he turned his face", "And kissed her climbing, and she cast her arms", "About him, and at once they rode away.", "", "And never yet, since high in Paradise", "O'er the four rivers the first roses blew,", "Came purer pleasure unto mortal kind", "Than lived through her, who in that perilous hour", "Put hand to hand beneath her husband's heart,", "And felt him hers again: she did not weep,", "But o'er her meek eyes came a happy mist", "Like that which kept the heart of Eden green", "Before the useful trouble of the rain:", "Yet not so misty were her meek blue eyes", "As not to see before them on the path,", "Right in the gateway of the bandit hold,", "A knight of Arthur's court, who laid his lance", "In rest, and made as if to fall upon him.", "Then, fearing for his hurt and loss of blood,", "She, with her mind all full of what had chanced,", "Shrieked to the stranger 'Slay not a dead man!'", "'The voice of Enid,' said the knight; but she,", "Beholding it was Edyrn son of Nudd,", "Was moved so much the more, and shrieked again,", "'O cousin, slay not him who gave you life.'", "And Edyrn moving frankly forward spake:", "'My lord Geraint, I greet you with all love;", "I took you for a bandit knight of Doorm;", "And fear not, Enid, I should fall upon him,", "Who love you, Prince, with something of the love", "Wherewith we love the Heaven that chastens us.", "For once, when I was up so high in pride", "That I was halfway down the slope to Hell,", "By overthrowing me you threw me higher.", "Now, made a knight of Arthur's Table Round,", "And since I knew this Earl, when I myself", "Was half a bandit in my lawless hour,", "I come the mouthpiece of our King to Doorm", "(The King is close behind me) bidding him", "Disband himself, and scatter all his powers,", "Submit, and hear the judgment of the King.'", "", "'He hears the judgment of the King of kings,'", "Cried the wan Prince; 'and lo, the powers of Doorm", "Are scattered,' and he pointed to the field,", "Where, huddled here and there on mound and knoll,", "Were men and women staring and aghast,", "While some yet fled; and then he plainlier told", "How the huge Earl lay slain within his hall.", "But when the knight besought him, 'Follow me,", "Prince, to the camp, and in the King's own ear", "Speak what has chanced; ye surely have endured", "Strange chances here alone;' that other flushed,", "And hung his head, and halted in reply,", "Fearing the mild face of the blameless King,", "And after madness acted question asked:", "Till Edyrn crying, 'If ye will not go", "To Arthur, then will Arthur come to you,'", "'Enough,' he said, 'I follow,' and they went.", "But Enid in their going had two fears,", "One from the bandit scattered in the field,", "And one from Edyrn. Every now and then,", "When Edyrn reined his charger at her side,", "She shrank a little. In a hollow land,", "From which old fires have broken, men may fear", "Fresh fire and ruin. He, perceiving, said:", "", "'Fair and dear cousin, you that most had cause", "To fear me, fear no longer, I am changed.", "Yourself were first the blameless cause to make", "My nature's prideful sparkle in the blood", "Break into furious flame; being repulsed", "By Yniol and yourself, I schemed and wrought", "Until I overturned him; then set up", "(With one main purpose ever at my heart)", "My haughty jousts, and took a paramour;", "Did her mock-honour as the fairest fair,", "And, toppling over all antagonism,", "So waxed in pride, that I believed myself", "Unconquerable, for I was wellnigh mad:", "And, but for my main purpose in these jousts,", "I should have slain your father, seized yourself.", "I lived in hope that sometime you would come", "To these my lists with him whom best you loved;", "And there, poor cousin, with your meek blue eyes", "The truest eyes that ever answered Heaven,", "Behold me overturn and trample on him.", "Then, had you cried, or knelt, or prayed to me,", "I should not less have killed him. And so you came,--", "But once you came,--and with your own true eyes", "Beheld the man you loved (I speak as one", "Speaks of a service done him) overthrow", "My proud self, and my purpose three years old,", "And set his foot upon me, and give me life.", "There was I broken down; there was I saved:", "Though thence I rode all-shamed, hating the life", "He gave me, meaning to be rid of it.", "And all the penance the Queen laid upon me", "Was but to rest awhile within her court;", "Where first as sullen as a beast new-caged,", "And waiting to be treated like a wolf,", "Because I knew my deeds were known, I found,", "Instead of scornful pity or pure scorn,", "Such fine reserve and noble reticence,", "Manners so kind, yet stately, such a grace", "Of tenderest courtesy, that I began", "To glance behind me at my former life,", "And find that it had been the wolf's indeed:", "And oft I talked with Dubric, the high saint,", "Who, with mild heat of holy oratory,", "Subdued me somewhat to that gentleness,", "Which, when it weds with manhood, makes a man.", "And you were often there about the Queen,", "But saw me not, or marked not if you saw;", "Nor did I care or dare to speak with you,", "But kept myself aloof till I was changed;", "And fear not, cousin; I am changed indeed.'", "", "He spoke, and Enid easily believed,", "Like simple noble natures, credulous", "Of what they long for, good in friend or foe,", "There most in those who most have done them ill.", "And when they reached the camp the King himself", "Advanced to greet them, and beholding her", "Though pale, yet happy, asked her not a word,", "But went apart with Edyrn, whom he held", "In converse for a little, and returned,", "And, gravely smiling, lifted her from horse,", "And kissed her with all pureness, brother-like,", "And showed an empty tent allotted her,", "And glancing for a minute, till he saw her", "Pass into it, turned to the Prince, and said:", "", "'Prince, when of late ye prayed me for my leave", "To move to your own land, and there defend", "Your marches, I was pricked with some reproof,", "As one that let foul wrong stagnate and be,", "By having looked too much through alien eyes,", "And wrought too long with delegated hands,", "Not used mine own: but now behold me come", "To cleanse this common sewer of all my realm,", "With Edyrn and with others: have ye looked", "At Edyrn? have ye seen how nobly changed?", "This work of his is great and wonderful.", "His very face with change of heart is changed.", "The world will not believe a man repents:", "And this wise world of ours is mainly right.", "Full seldom doth a man repent, or use", "Both grace and will to pick the vicious quitch", "Of blood and custom wholly out of him,", "And make all clean, and plant himself afresh.", "Edyrn has done it, weeding all his heart", "As I will weed this land before I go.", "I, therefore, made him of our Table Round,", "Not rashly, but have proved him everyway", "One of our noblest, our most valorous,", "Sanest and most obedient: and indeed", "This work of Edyrn wrought upon himself", "After a life of violence, seems to me", "A thousand-fold more great and wonderful", "Than if some knight of mine, risking his life,", "My subject with my subjects under him,", "Should make an onslaught single on a realm", "Of robbers, though he slew them one by one,", "And were himself nigh wounded to the death.'", "", "So spake the King; low bowed the Prince, and felt", "His work was neither great nor wonderful,", "And past to Enid's tent; and thither came", "The King's own leech to look into his hurt;", "And Enid tended on him there; and there", "Her constant motion round him, and the breath", "Of her sweet tendance hovering over him,", "Filled all the genial courses of his blood", "With deeper and with ever deeper love,", "As the south-west that blowing Bala lake", "Fills all the sacred Dee. So past the days.", "", "But while Geraint lay healing of his hurt,", "The blameless King went forth and cast his eyes", "On each of all whom Uther left in charge", "Long since, to guard the justice of the King:", "He looked and found them wanting; and as now", "Men weed the white horse on the Berkshire hills", "To keep him bright and clean as heretofore,", "He rooted out the slothful officer", "Or guilty, which for bribe had winked at wrong,", "And in their chairs set up a stronger race", "With hearts and hands, and sent a thousand men", "To till the wastes, and moving everywhere", "Cleared the dark places and let in the law,", "And broke the bandit holds and cleansed the land.", "", "Then, when Geraint was whole again, they past", "With Arthur to Caerleon upon Usk.", "There the great Queen once more embraced her friend,", "And clothed her in apparel like the day.", "And though Geraint could never take again", "That comfort from their converse which he took", "Before the Queen's fair name was breathed upon,", "He rested well content that all was well.", "Thence after tarrying for a space they rode,", "And fifty knights rode with them to the shores", "Of Severn, and they past to their own land.", "And there he kept the justice of the King", "So vigorously yet mildly, that all hearts", "Applauded, and the spiteful whisper died:", "And being ever foremost in the chase,", "And victor at the tilt and tournament,", "They called him the great Prince and man of men.", "But Enid, whom her ladies loved to call", "Enid the Fair, a grateful people named", "Enid the Good; and in their halls arose", "The cry of children, Enids and Geraints", "Of times to be; nor did he doubt her more,", "But rested in her falty, till he crowned", "A happy life with a fair death, and fell", "Against the heathen of the Northern Sea", "In battle, fighting for the blameless King." ], "linecount": "970" }, { "title": "The Princess (part 4)", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "'There sinks the nebulous star we call the Sun,", "If that hypothesis of theirs be sound'", "Said Ida; 'let us down and rest;' and we", "Down from the lean and wrinkled precipices,", "By every coppice-feathered chasm and cleft,", "Dropt through the ambrosial gloom to where below", "No bigger than a glow-worm shone the tent", "Lamp-lit from the inner. Once she leaned on me,", "Descending; once or twice she lent her hand,", "And blissful palpitations in the blood,", "Stirring a sudden transport rose and fell.", "", "But when we planted level feet, and dipt", "Beneath the satin dome and entered in,", "There leaning deep in broidered down we sank", "Our elbows: on a tripod in the midst", "A fragrant flame rose, and before us glowed", "Fruit, blossom, viand, amber wine, and gold.", "", "Then she, 'Let some one sing to us: lightlier move", "The minutes fledged with music:' and a maid,", "Of those beside her, smote her harp, and sang.", "", "", "'Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,", "Tears from the depth of some divine despair", "Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,", "In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,", "And thinking of the days that are no more.", "", "'Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,", "That brings our friends up from the underworld,", "Sad as the last which reddens over one", "That sinks with all we love below the verge;", "So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.", "", "'Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns", "The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds", "To dying ears, when unto dying eyes", "The casement slowly grows a glimmering square;", "So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.", "", "'Dear as remembered kisses after death,", "And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned", "On lips that are for others; deep as love,", "Deep as first love, and wild with all regret;", "O Death in Life, the days that are no more.'", "", "", "She ended with such passion that the tear,", "She sang of, shook and fell, an erring pearl", "Lost in her bosom: but with some disdain", "Answered the Princess, 'If indeed there haunt", "About the mouldered lodges of the Past", "So sweet a voice and vague, fatal to men,", "Well needs it we should cram our ears with wool", "And so pace by: but thine are fancies hatched", "In silken-folded idleness; nor is it", "Wiser to weep a true occasion lost,", "But trim our sails, and let old bygones be,", "While down the streams that float us each and all", "To the issue, goes, like glittering bergs of ice,", "Throne after throne, and molten on the waste", "Becomes a cloud: for all things serve their time", "Toward that great year of equal mights and rights,", "Nor would I fight with iron laws, in the end", "Found golden: let the past be past; let be", "Their cancelled Babels: though the rough kex break", "The starred mosaic, and the beard-blown goat", "Hang on the shaft, and the wild figtree split", "Their monstrous idols, care not while we hear", "A trumpet in the distance pealing news", "Of better, and Hope, a poising eagle, burns", "Above the unrisen morrow:' then to me;", "'Know you no song of your own land,' she said,", "'Not such as moans about the retrospect,", "But deals with the other distance and the hues", "Of promise; not a death's-head at the wine.'", "", "Then I remembered one myself had made,", "What time I watched the swallow winging south", "From mine own land, part made long since, and part", "Now while I sang, and maidenlike as far", "As I could ape their treble, did I sing.", "", "", "'O Swallow, Swallow, flying, flying South,", "Fly to her, and fall upon her gilded eaves,", "And tell her, tell her, what I tell to thee.", "", "'O tell her, Swallow, thou that knowest each,", "That bright and fierce and fickle is the South,", "And dark and true and tender is the North.", "", "'O Swallow, Swallow, if I could follow, and light", "Upon her lattice, I would pipe and trill,", "And cheep and twitter twenty million loves.", "", "'O were I thou that she might take me in,", "And lay me on her bosom, and her heart", "Would rock the snowy cradle till I died.", "", "'Why lingereth she to clothe her heart with love,", "Delaying as the tender ash delays", "To clothe herself, when all the woods are green?", "", "'O tell her, Swallow, that thy brood is flown:", "Say to her, I do but wanton in the South,", "But in the North long since my nest is made.", "", "'O tell her, brief is life but love is long,", "And brief the sun of summer in the North,", "And brief the moon of beauty in the South.", "", "'O Swallow, flying from the golden woods,", "Fly to her, and pipe and woo her, and make her mine,", "And tell her, tell her, that I follow thee.'", "", "", "I ceased, and all the ladies, each at each,", "Like the Ithacensian suitors in old time,", "Stared with great eyes, and laughed with alien lips,", "And knew not what they meant; for still my voice", "Rang false: but smiling 'Not for thee,' she said,", "O Bulbul, any rose of Gulistan", "Shall burst her veil: marsh-divers, rather, maid,", "Shall croak thee sister, or the meadow-crake", "Grate her harsh kindred in the grass: and this", "A mere love-poem! O for such, my friend,", "We hold them slight: they mind us of the time", "When we made bricks in Egypt. Knaves are men,", "That lute and flute fantastic tenderness,", "And dress the victim to the offering up,", "And paint the gates of Hell with Paradise,", "And play the slave to gain the tyranny.", "Poor soul! I had a maid of honour once;", "She wept her true eyes blind for such a one,", "A rogue of canzonets and serenades.", "I loved her. Peace be with her. She is dead.", "So they blaspheme the muse! But great is song", "Used to great ends: ourself have often tried", "Valkyrian hymns, or into rhythm have dashed", "The passion of the prophetess; for song", "Is duer unto freedom, force and growth", "Of spirit than to junketing and love.", "Love is it? Would this same mock-love, and this", "Mock-Hymen were laid up like winter bats,", "Till all men grew to rate us at our worth,", "Not vassals to be beat, nor pretty babes", "To be dandled, no, but living wills, and sphered", "Whole in ourselves and owed to none. Enough!", "But now to leaven play with profit, you,", "Know you no song, the true growth of your soil,", "That gives the manners of your country-women?'", "", "She spoke and turned her sumptuous head with eyes", "Of shining expectation fixt on mine.", "Then while I dragged my brains for such a song,", "Cyril, with whom the bell-mouthed glass had wrought,", "Or mastered by the sense of sport, began", "To troll a careless, careless tavern-catch", "Of Moll and Meg, and strange experiences", "Unmeet for ladies. Florian nodded at him,", "I frowning; Psyche flushed and wanned and shook;", "The lilylike Melissa drooped her brows;", "'Forbear,' the Princess cried; 'Forbear, Sir' I;", "And heated through and through with wrath and love,", "I smote him on the breast; he started up;", "There rose a shriek as of a city sacked;", "Melissa clamoured 'Flee the death;' 'To horse'", "Said Ida; 'home! to horse!' and fled, as flies", "A troop of snowy doves athwart the dusk,", "When some one batters at the dovecote-doors,", "Disorderly the women. Alone I stood", "With Florian, cursing Cyril, vext at heart,", "In the pavilion: there like parting hopes", "I heard them passing from me: hoof by hoof,", "And every hoof a knell to my desires,", "Clanged on the bridge; and then another shriek,", "'The Head, the Head, the Princess, O the Head!'", "For blind with rage she missed the plank, and rolled", "In the river. Out I sprang from glow to gloom:", "There whirled her white robe like a blossomed branch", "Rapt to the horrible fall: a glance I gave,", "No more; but woman-vested as I was", "Plunged; and the flood drew; yet I caught her; then", "Oaring one arm, and bearing in my left", "The weight of all the hopes of half the world,", "Strove to buffet to land in vain. A tree", "Was half-disrooted from his place and stooped", "To wrench his dark locks in the gurgling wave", "Mid-channel. Right on this we drove and caught,", "And grasping down the boughs I gained the shore.", "", "There stood her maidens glimmeringly grouped", "In the hollow bank. One reaching forward drew", "My burthen from mine arms; they cried 'she lives:'", "They bore her back into the tent: but I,", "So much a kind of shame within me wrought,", "Not yet endured to meet her opening eyes,", "Nor found my friends; but pushed alone on foot", "(For since her horse was lost I left her mine)", "Across the woods, and less from Indian craft", "Than beelike instinct hiveward, found at length", "The garden portals. Two great statues, Art", "And Science, Caryatids, lifted up", "A weight of emblem, and betwixt were valves", "Of open-work in which the hunter rued", "His rash intrusion, manlike, but his brows", "Had sprouted, and the branches thereupon", "Spread out at top, and grimly spiked the gates.", "", "A little space was left between the horns,", "Through which I clambered o'er at top with pain,", "Dropt on the sward, and up the linden walks,", "And, tost on thoughts that changed from hue to hue,", "Now poring on the glowworm, now the star,", "I paced the terrace, till the Bear had wheeled", "Through a great arc his seven slow suns.", "A step", "Of lightest echo, then a loftier form", "Than female, moving through the uncertain gloom,", "Disturbed me with the doubt 'if this were she,'", "But it was Florian. 'Hist O Hist,' he said,", "'They seek us: out so late is out of rules.", "Moreover \"seize the strangers\" is the cry.", "How came you here?' I told him: 'I' said he,", "'Last of the train, a moral leper, I,", "To whom none spake, half-sick at heart, returned.", "Arriving all confused among the rest", "With hooded brows I crept into the hall,", "And, couched behind a Judith, underneath", "The head of Holofernes peeped and saw.", "Girl after girl was called to trial: each", "Disclaimed all knowledge of us: last of all,", "Melissa: trust me, Sir, I pitied her.", "She, questioned if she knew us men, at first", "Was silent; closer prest, denied it not:", "And then, demanded if her mother knew,", "Or Psyche, she affirmed not, or denied:", "From whence the Royal mind, familiar with her,", "Easily gathered either guilt. She sent", "For Psyche, but she was not there; she called", "For Psyche's child to cast it from the doors;", "She sent for Blanche to accuse her face to face;", "And I slipt out: but whither will you now?", "And where are Psyche, Cyril? both are fled:", "What, if together? that were not so well.", "Would rather we had never come! I dread", "His wildness, and the chances of the dark.'", "", "'And yet,' I said, 'you wrong him more than I", "That struck him: this is proper to the clown,", "Though smocked, or furred and purpled, still the clown,", "To harm the thing that trusts him, and to shame", "That which he says he loves: for Cyril, howe'er", "He deal in frolic, as tonight--the song", "Might have been worse and sinned in grosser lips", "Beyond all pardon--as it is, I hold", "These flashes on the surface are not he.", "He has a solid base of temperament:", "But as the waterlily starts and slides", "Upon the level in little puffs of wind,", "Though anchored to the bottom, such is he.'", "", "Scarce had I ceased when from a tamarisk near", "Two Proctors leapt upon us, crying, 'Names:'", "He, standing still, was clutched; but I began", "To thrid the musky-circled mazes, wind", "And double in and out the boles, and race", "By all the fountains: fleet I was of foot:", "Before me showered the rose in flakes; behind", "I heard the puffed pursuer; at mine ear", "Bubbled the nightingale and heeded not,", "And secret laughter tickled all my soul.", "At last I hooked my ankle in a vine,", "That claspt the feet of a Mnemosyne,", "And falling on my face was caught and known.", "", "They haled us to the Princess where she sat", "High in the hall: above her drooped a lamp,", "And made the single jewel on her brow", "Burn like the mystic fire on a mast-head,", "Prophet of storm: a handmaid on each side", "Bowed toward her, combing out her long black hair", "Damp from the river; and close behind her stood", "Eight daughters of the plough, stronger than men,", "Huge women blowzed with health, and wind, and rain,", "And labour. Each was like a Druid rock;", "Or like a spire of land that stands apart", "Cleft from the main, and wailed about with mews.", "", "Then, as we came, the crowd dividing clove", "An advent to the throne: and therebeside,", "Half-naked as if caught at once from bed", "And tumbled on the purple footcloth, lay", "The lily-shining child; and on the left,", "Bowed on her palms and folded up from wrong,", "Her round white shoulder shaken with her sobs,", "Melissa knelt; but Lady Blanche erect", "Stood up and spake, an affluent orator.", "", "'It was not thus, O Princess, in old days:", "You prized my counsel, lived upon my lips:", "I led you then to all the Castalies;", "I fed you with the milk of every Muse;", "I loved you like this kneeler, and you me", "Your second mother: those were gracious times.", "Then came your new friend: you began to change--", "I saw it and grieved--to slacken and to cool;", "Till taken with her seeming openness", "You turned your warmer currents all to her,", "To me you froze: this was my meed for all.", "Yet I bore up in part from ancient love,", "And partly that I hoped to win you back,", "And partly conscious of my own deserts,", "And partly that you were my civil head,", "And chiefly you were born for something great,", "In which I might your fellow-worker be,", "When time should serve; and thus a noble scheme", "Grew up from seed we two long since had sown;", "In us true growth, in her a Jonah's gourd,", "Up in one night and due to sudden sun:", "We took this palace; but even from the first", "You stood in your own light and darkened mine.", "What student came but that you planed her path", "To Lady Psyche, younger, not so wise,", "A foreigner, and I your countrywoman,", "I your old friend and tried, she new in all?", "But still her lists were swelled and mine were lean;", "Yet I bore up in hope she would be known:", "Then came these wolves: ~they~ knew her: ~they~ endured,", "Long-closeted with her the yestermorn,", "To tell her what they were, and she to hear:", "And me none told: not less to an eye like mine", "A lidless watcher of the public weal,", "Last night, their mask was patent, and my foot", "Was to you: but I thought again: I feared", "To meet a cold \"We thank you, we shall hear of it", "From Lady Psyche:\" you had gone to her,", "She told, perforce; and winning easy grace", "No doubt, for slight delay, remained among us", "In our young nursery still unknown, the stem", "Less grain than touchwood, while my honest heat", "Were all miscounted as malignant haste", "To push my rival out of place and power.", "But public use required she should be known;", "And since my oath was ta'en for public use,", "I broke the letter of it to keep the sense.", "I spoke not then at first, but watched them well,", "Saw that they kept apart, no mischief done;", "And yet this day (though you should hate me for it)", "I came to tell you; found that you had gone,", "Ridden to the hills, she likewise: now, I thought,", "That surely she will speak; if not, then I:", "Did she? These monsters blazoned what they were,", "According to the coarseness of their kind,", "For thus I hear; and known at last (my work)", "And full of cowardice and guilty shame,", "I grant in her some sense of shame, she flies;", "And I remain on whom to wreak your rage,", "I, that have lent my life to build up yours,", "I that have wasted here health, wealth, and time,", "And talent, I--you know it--I will not boast:", "Dismiss me, and I prophesy your plan,", "Divorced from my experience, will be chaff", "For every gust of chance, and men will say", "We did not know the real light, but chased", "The wisp that flickers where no foot can tread.'", "", "She ceased: the Princess answered coldly, 'Good:", "Your oath is broken: we dismiss you: go.", "For this lost lamb (she pointed to the child)", "Our mind is changed: we take it to ourself.'", "", "Thereat the Lady stretched a vulture throat,", "And shot from crooked lips a haggard smile.", "'The plan was mine. I built the nest' she said", "'To hatch the cuckoo. Rise!' and stooped to updrag", "Melissa: she, half on her mother propt,", "Half-drooping from her, turned her face, and cast", "A liquid look on Ida, full of prayer,", "Which melted Florian's fancy as she hung,", "A Niobëan daughter, one arm out,", "Appealing to the bolts of Heaven; and while", "We gazed upon her came a little stir", "About the doors, and on a sudden rushed", "Among us, out of breath as one pursued,", "A woman-post in flying raiment. Fear", "Stared in her eyes, and chalked her face, and winged", "Her transit to the throne, whereby she fell", "Delivering sealed dispatches which the Head", "Took half-amazed, and in her lion's mood", "Tore open, silent we with blind surmise", "Regarding, while she read, till over brow", "And cheek and bosom brake the wrathful bloom", "As of some fire against a stormy cloud,", "When the wild peasant rights himself, the rick", "Flames, and his anger reddens in the heavens;", "For anger most it seemed, while now her breast,", "Beaten with some great passion at her heart,", "Palpitated, her hand shook, and we heard", "In the dead hush the papers that she held", "Rustle: at once the lost lamb at her feet", "Sent out a bitter bleating for its dam;", "The plaintive cry jarred on her ire; she crushed", "The scrolls together, made a sudden turn", "As if to speak, but, utterance failing her,", "She whirled them on to me, as who should say", "'Read,' and I read--two letters--one her sire's.", "", "'Fair daughter, when we sent the Prince your way,", "We knew not your ungracious laws, which learnt,", "We, conscious of what temper you are built,", "Came all in haste to hinder wrong, but fell", "Into his father's hands, who has this night,", "You lying close upon his territory,", "Slipt round and in the dark invested you,", "And here he keeps me hostage for his son.'", "", "The second was my father's running thus:", "'You have our son: touch not a hair of his head:", "Render him up unscathed: give him your hand:", "Cleave to your contract: though indeed we hear", "You hold the woman is the better man;", "A rampant heresy, such as if it spread", "Would make all women kick against their Lords", "Through all the world, and which might well deserve", "That we this night should pluck your palace down;", "And we will do it, unless you send us back", "Our son, on the instant, whole.'", "So far I read;", "And then stood up and spoke impetuously.", "", "'O not to pry and peer on your reserve,", "But led by golden wishes, and a hope", "The child of regal compact, did I break", "Your precinct; not a scorner of your sex", "But venerator, zealous it should be", "All that it might be: hear me, for I bear,", "Though man, yet human, whatsoe'er your wrongs,", "From the flaxen curl to the gray lock a life", "Less mine than yours: my nurse would tell me of you;", "I babbled for you, as babies for the moon,", "Vague brightness; when a boy, you stooped to me", "From all high places, lived in all fair lights,", "Came in long breezes rapt from inmost south", "And blown to inmost north; at eve and dawn", "With Ida, Ida, Ida, rang the woods;", "The leader wildswan in among the stars", "Would clang it, and lapt in wreaths of glowworm light", "The mellow breaker murmured Ida. Now,", "Because I would have reached you, had you been", "Sphered up with Cassiopëia, or the enthroned", "Persephonè in Hades, now at length,", "Those winters of abeyance all worn out,", "A man I came to see you: but indeed,", "Not in this frequence can I lend full tongue,", "O noble Ida, to those thoughts that wait", "On you, their centre: let me say but this,", "That many a famous man and woman, town", "And landskip, have I heard of, after seen", "The dwarfs of presage: though when known, there grew", "Another kind of beauty in detail", "Made them worth knowing; but in your I found", "My boyish dream involved and dazzled down", "And mastered, while that after-beauty makes", "Such head from act to act, from hour to hour,", "Within me, that except you slay me here,", "According to your bitter statute-book,", "I cannot cease to follow you, as they say", "The seal does music; who desire you more", "Than growing boys their manhood; dying lips,", "With many thousand matters left to do,", "The breath of life; O more than poor men wealth,", "Than sick men health--yours, yours, not mine--but half", "Without you; with you, whole; and of those halves", "You worthiest; and howe'er you block and bar", "Your heart with system out from mine, I hold", "That it becomes no man to nurse despair,", "But in the teeth of clenched antagonisms", "To follow up the worthiest till he die:", "Yet that I came not all unauthorized", "Behold your father's letter.'", "On one knee", "Kneeling, I gave it, which she caught, and dashed", "Unopened at her feet: a tide of fierce", "Invective seemed to wait behind her lips,", "As waits a river level with the dam", "Ready to burst and flood the world with foam:", "And so she would have spoken, but there rose", "A hubbub in the court of half the maids", "Gathered together: from the illumined hall", "Long lanes of splendour slanted o'er a press", "Of snowy shoulders, thick as herded ewes,", "And rainbow robes, and gems and gemlike eyes,", "And gold and golden heads; they to and fro", "Fluctuated, as flowers in storm, some red, some pale,", "All open-mouthed, all gazing to the light,", "Some crying there was an army in the land,", "And some that men were in the very walls,", "And some they cared not; till a clamour grew", "As of a new-world Babel, woman-built,", "And worse-confounded: high above them stood", "The placid marble Muses, looking peace.", "", "Not peace she looked, the Head: but rising up", "Robed in the long night of her deep hair, so", "To the open window moved, remaining there", "Fixt like a beacon-tower above the waves", "Of tempest, when the crimson-rolling eye", "Glares ruin, and the wild birds on the light", "Dash themselves dead. She stretched her arms and called", "Across the tumult and the tumult fell.", "", "'What fear ye, brawlers? am not I your Head?", "On me, me, me, the storm first breaks: ~I~ dare", "All these male thunderbolts: what is it ye fear?", "Peace! there are those to avenge us and they come:", "If not,--myself were like enough, O girls,", "To unfurl the maiden banner of our rights,", "And clad in iron burst the ranks of war,", "Or, falling, promartyr of our cause,", "Die: yet I blame you not so much for fear:", "Six thousand years of fear have made you that", "From which I would redeem you: but for those", "That stir this hubbub--you and you--I know", "Your faces there in the crowd--tomorrow morn", "We hold a great convention: then shall they", "That love their voices more than duty, learn", "With whom they deal, dismissed in shame to live", "No wiser than their mothers, household stuff,", "Live chattels, mincers of each other's fame,", "Full of weak poison, turnspits for the clown,", "The drunkard's football, laughing-stocks of Time,", "Whose brains are in their hands and in their heels", "But fit to flaunt, to dress, to dance, to thrum,", "To tramp, to scream, to burnish, and to scour,", "For ever slaves at home and fools abroad.'", "", "She, ending, waved her hands: thereat the crowd", "Muttering, dissolved: then with a smile, that looked", "A stroke of cruel sunshine on the cliff,", "When all the glens are drowned in azure gloom", "Of thunder-shower, she floated to us and said:", "", "'You have done well and like a gentleman,", "And like a prince: you have our thanks for all:", "And you look well too in your woman's dress:", "Well have you done and like a gentleman.", "You saved our life: we owe you bitter thanks:", "Better have died and spilt our bones in the flood--", "Then men had said--but now--What hinders me", "To take such bloody vengeance on you both?--", "Yet since our father--Wasps in our good hive,", "You would-be quenchers of the light to be,", "Barbarians, grosser than your native bears--", "O would I had his sceptre for one hour!", "You that have dared to break our bound, and gulled", "Our servants, wronged and lied and thwarted us--", "~I~ wed with thee! ~I~ bound by precontract", "Your bride, our bondslave! not though all the gold", "That veins the world were packed to make your crown,", "And every spoken tongue should lord you. Sir,", "Your falsehood and yourself are hateful to us:", "I trample on your offers and on you:", "Begone: we will not look upon you more.", "Here, push them out at gates.'", "In wrath she spake.", "Then those eight mighty daughters of the plough", "Bent their broad faces toward us and addressed", "Their motion: twice I sought to plead my cause,", "But on my shoulder hung their heavy hands,", "The weight of destiny: so from her face", "They pushed us, down the steps, and through the court,", "And with grim laughter thrust us out at gates.", "", "We crossed the street and gained a petty mound", "Beyond it, whence we saw the lights and heard the voices murmuring. While I listened, came", "On a sudden the weird seizure and the doubt:", "I seemed to move among a world of ghosts;", "The Princess with her monstrous woman-guard,", "The jest and earnest working side by side,", "The cataract and the tumult and the kings", "Were shadows; and the long fantastic night", "With all its doings had and had not been,", "And all things were and were not.", "This went by", "As strangely as it came, and on my spirits", "Settled a gentle cloud of melancholy;", "Not long; I shook it off; for spite of doubts", "And sudden ghostly shadowings I was one", "To whom the touch of all mischance but came", "As night to him that sitting on a hill", "Sees the midsummer, midnight, Norway sun", "Set into sunrise; then we moved away.", "", "", "Thy voice is heard through rolling drums,", "That beat to battle where he stands;", "Thy face across his fancy comes,", "And gives the battle to his hands:", "A moment, while the trumpets blow,", "He sees his brood about thy knee;", "The next, like fire he meets the foe,", "And strikes him dead for thine and thee.", "", "", "So Lilia sang: we thought her half-possessed,", "She struck such warbling fury through the words;", "And, after, feigning pique at what she called", "The raillery, or grotesque, or false sublime--", "Like one that wishes at a dance to change", "The music--clapt her hands and cried for war,", "Or some grand fight to kill and make an end:", "And he that next inherited the tale", "Half turning to the broken statue, said,", "'Sir Ralph has got your colours: if I prove", "Your knight, and fight your battle, what for me?'", "It chanced, her empty glove upon the tomb", "Lay by her like a model of her hand.", "She took it and she flung it. 'Fight' she said,", "'And make us all we would be, great and good.'", "He knightlike in his cap instead of casque,", "A cap of Tyrol borrowed from the hall,", "Arranged the favour, and assumed the Prince." ], "linecount": "583" }, { "title": "In Memoriam A. H. H.: 82. I wage not any feud with death", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "I wage not any feud with Death", "For changes wrought on form and face;", "No lower life that earth's embrace", "May breed with him, can fright my faith.", "Eternal process moving on,", "From state to state the spirit walks;", "And these are but the shatter'd stalks,", "Or ruin'd chrysalis of one.", "Nor blame I Death, because he bare", "The use of virtue out of earth:", "I know transplanted human worth", "Will bloom to profit, otherwhere.", "", "For this alone on Death I wreak", "The wrath that garners in my heart;", "He put our lives so far apart", "We cannot hear each other speak." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "The Princess: A Medley: Home they Brought her Warrior Dead", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "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.\"" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Alfred Lord Tennyson - The Coming Of Arthur", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Leodogran, the King of Cameliard,", "Had one fair daughter, and none other child;", "And she was the fairest of all flesh on earth,", "Guinevere, and in her his one delight.", "", "For many a petty king ere Arthur came", "Ruled in this isle, and ever waging war", "Each upon other, wasted all the land;", "And still from time to time the heathen host", "Swarmed overseas, and harried what was left.", "And so there grew great tracts of wilderness,", "Wherein the beast was ever more and more,", "But man was less and less, till Arthur came.", "For first Aurelius lived and fought and died,", "And after him King Uther fought and died,", "But either failed to make the kingdom one.", "And after these King Arthur for a space,", "And through the puissance of his Table Round,", "Drew all their petty princedoms under him.", "Their king and head, and made a realm, and reigned.", "", "And thus the land of Cameliard was waste,", "Thick with wet woods, and many a beast therein,", "And none or few to scare or chase the beast;", "So that wild dog, and wolf and boar and bear", "Came night and day, and rooted in the fields,", "And wallowed in the gardens of the King.", "And ever and anon the wolf would steal", "The children and devour, but now and then,", "Her own brood lost or dead, lent her fierce teat", "To human sucklings; and the children, housed", "In her foul den, there at their meat would growl,", "And mock their foster mother on four feet,", "Till, straightened, they grew up to wolf-like men,", "Worse than the wolves. And King Leodogran", "Groaned for the Roman legions here again,", "And Csar's eagle: then his brother king,", "Urien, assailed him: last a heathen horde,", "Reddening the sun with smoke and earth with blood,", "And on the spike that split the mother's heart", "Spitting the child, brake on him, till, amazed,", "He knew not whither he should turn for aid.", "", "But--for he heard of Arthur newly crowned,", "Though not without an uproar made by those", "Who cried, `He is not Uther's son'--the King", "Sent to him, saying, `Arise, and help us thou!", "For here between the man and beast we die.'", "", "And Arthur yet had done no deed of arms,", "But heard the call, and came: and Guinevere", "Stood by the castle walls to watch him pass;", "But since he neither wore on helm or shield", "The golden symbol of his kinglihood,", "But rode a simple knight among his knights,", "And many of these in richer arms than he,", "She saw him not, or marked not, if she saw,", "One among many, though his face was bare.", "But Arthur, looking downward as he past,", "Felt the light of her eyes into his life", "Smite on the sudden, yet rode on, and pitched", "His tents beside the forest. Then he drave", "The heathen; after, slew the beast, and felled", "The forest, letting in the sun, and made", "Broad pathways for the hunter and the knight", "And so returned.", "", "For while he lingered there,", "A doubt that ever smouldered in the hearts", "Of those great Lords and Barons of his realm", "Flashed forth and into war: for most of these,", "Colleaguing with a score of petty kings,", "Made head against him, crying, `Who is he", "That he should rule us? who hath proven him", "King Uther's son? for lo! we look at him,", "And find nor face nor bearing, limbs nor voice,", "Are like to those of Uther whom we knew.", "This is the son of Gorlos, not the King;", "This is the son of Anton, not the King.'", "", "And Arthur, passing thence to battle, felt", "Travail, and throes and agonies of the life,", "Desiring to be joined with Guinevere;", "And thinking as he rode, `Her father said", "That there between the man and beast they die.", "Shall I not lift her from this land of beasts", "Up to my throne, and side by side with me?", "What happiness to reign a lonely king,", "Vext--O ye stars that shudder over me,", "O earth that soundest hollow under me,", "Vext with waste dreams? for saving I be joined", "To her that is the fairest under heaven,", "I seem as nothing in the mighty world,", "And cannot will my will, nor work my work", "Wholly, nor make myself in mine own realm", "Victor and lord. But were I joined with her,", "Then might we live together as one life,", "And reigning with one will in everything", "Have power on this dark land to lighten it,", "And power on this dead world to make it live.'", "", "Thereafter--as he speaks who tells the tale--", "When Arthur reached a field-of-battle bright", "With pitched pavilions of his foe, the world", "Was all so clear about him, that he saw", "The smallest rock far on the faintest hill,", "And even in high day the morning star.", "So when the King had set his banner broad,", "At once from either side, with trumpet-blast,", "And shouts, and clarions shrilling unto blood,", "The long-lanced battle let their horses run.", "And now the Barons and the kings prevailed,", "And now the King, as here and there that war", "Went swaying; but the Powers who walk the world", "Made lightnings and great thunders over him,", "And dazed all eyes, till Arthur by main might,", "And mightier of his hands with every blow,", "And leading all his knighthood threw the kings", "Cardos, Urien, Cradlemont of Wales,", "Claudias, and Clariance of Northumberland,", "The King Brandagoras of Latangor,", "With Anguisant of Erin, Morganore,", "And Lot of Orkney. Then, before a voice", "As dreadful as the shout of one who sees", "To one who sins, and deems himself alone", "And all the world asleep, they swerved and brake", "Flying, and Arthur called to stay the brands", "That hacked among the flyers, `Ho! they yield!'", "So like a painted battle the war stood", "Silenced, the living quiet as the dead,", "And in the heart of Arthur joy was lord.", "He laughed upon his warrior whom he loved", "And honoured most. `Thou dost not doubt me King,", "So well thine arm hath wrought for me today.'", "`Sir and my liege,' he cried, `the fire of God", "Descends upon thee in the battle-field:", "I know thee for my King!' Whereat the two,", "For each had warded either in the fight,", "Sware on the field of death a deathless love.", "And Arthur said, `Man's word is God in man:", "Let chance what will, I trust thee to the death.'", "", "Then quickly from the foughten field he sent", "Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere,", "His new-made knights, to King Leodogran,", "Saying, `If I in aught have served thee well,", "Give me thy daughter Guinevere to wife.'", "", "Whom when he heard, Leodogran in heart", "Debating--`How should I that am a king,", "However much he holp me at my need,", "Give my one daughter saving to a king,", "And a king's son?'--lifted his voice, and called", "A hoary man, his chamberlain, to whom", "He trusted all things, and of him required", "His counsel: `Knowest thou aught of Arthur's birth?'", "", "Then spake the hoary chamberlain and said,", "`Sir King, there be but two old men that know:", "And each is twice as old as I; and one", "Is Merlin, the wise man that ever served", "King Uther through his magic art; and one", "Is Merlin's master (so they call him) Bleys,", "Who taught him magic, but the scholar ran", "Before the master, and so far, that Bleys,", "Laid magic by, and sat him down, and wrote", "All things and whatsoever Merlin did", "In one great annal-book, where after-years", "Will learn the secret of our Arthur's birth.'", "", "To whom the King Leodogran replied,", "`O friend, had I been holpen half as well", "By this King Arthur as by thee today,", "Then beast and man had had their share of me:", "But summon here before us yet once more", "Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere.'", "", "Then, when they came before him, the King said,", "`I have seen the cuckoo chased by lesser fowl,", "And reason in the chase: but wherefore now", "Do these your lords stir up the heat of war,", "Some calling Arthur born of Gorlos,", "Others of Anton? Tell me, ye yourselves,", "Hold ye this Arthur for King Uther's son?'", "", "And Ulfius and Brastias answered, `Ay.'", "Then Bedivere, the first of all his knights", "Knighted by Arthur at his crowning, spake--", "For bold in heart and act and word was he,", "Whenever slander breathed against the King--", "", "`Sir, there be many rumours on this head:", "For there be those who hate him in their hearts,", "Call him baseborn, and since his ways are sweet,", "And theirs are bestial, hold him less than man:", "And there be those who deem him more than man,", "And dream he dropt from heaven: but my belief", "In all this matter--so ye care to learn--", "Sir, for ye know that in King Uther's time", "The prince and warrior Gorlos, he that held", "Tintagil castle by the Cornish sea,", "Was wedded with a winsome wife, Ygerne:", "And daughters had she borne him,--one whereof,", "Lot's wife, the Queen of Orkney, Bellicent,", "Hath ever like a loyal sister cleaved", "To Arthur,--but a son she had not borne.", "And Uther cast upon her eyes of love:", "But she, a stainless wife to Gorlos,", "So loathed the bright dishonour of his love,", "That Gorlos and King Uther went to war:", "And overthrown was Gorlos and slain.", "Then Uther in his wrath and heat besieged", "Ygerne within Tintagil, where her men,", "Seeing the mighty swarm about their walls,", "Left her and fled, and Uther entered in,", "And there was none to call to but himself.", "So, compassed by the power of the King,", "Enforced was she to wed him in her tears,", "And with a shameful swiftness: afterward,", "Not many moons, King Uther died himself,", "Moaning and wailing for an heir to rule", "After him, lest the realm should go to wrack.", "And that same night, the night of the new year,", "By reason of the bitterness and grief", "That vext his mother, all before his time", "Was Arthur born, and all as soon as born", "Delivered at a secret postern-gate", "To Merlin, to be holden far apart", "Until his hour should come; because the lords", "Of that fierce day were as the lords of this,", "Wild beasts, and surely would have torn the child", "Piecemeal among them, had they known; for each", "But sought to rule for his own self and hand,", "And many hated Uther for the sake", "Of Gorlos. Wherefore Merlin took the child,", "And gave him to Sir Anton, an old knight", "And ancient friend of Uther; and his wife", "Nursed the young prince, and reared him with her own;", "And no man knew. And ever since the lords", "Have foughten like wild beasts among themselves,", "So that the realm has gone to wrack: but now,", "This year, when Merlin (for his hour had come)", "Brought Arthur forth, and set him in the hall,", "Proclaiming, \"Here is Uther's heir, your king,\"", "A hundred voices cried, \"Away with him!", "No king of ours! a son of Gorlos he,", "Or else the child of Anton, and no king,", "Or else baseborn.\" Yet Merlin through his craft,", "And while the people clamoured for a king,", "Had Arthur crowned; but after, the great lords", "Banded, and so brake out in open war.'", "", "Then while the King debated with himself", "If Arthur were the child of shamefulness,", "Or born the son of Gorlos, after death,", "Or Uther's son, and born before his time,", "Or whether there were truth in anything", "Said by these three, there came to Cameliard,", "With Gawain and young Modred, her two sons,", "Lot's wife, the Queen of Orkney, Bellicent;", "Whom as he could, not as he would, the King", "Made feast for, saying, as they sat at meat,", "", "`A doubtful throne is ice on summer seas.", "Ye come from Arthur's court. Victor his men", "Report him! Yea, but ye--think ye this king--", "So many those that hate him, and so strong,", "So few his knights, however brave they be--", "Hath body enow to hold his foemen down?'", "", "`O King,' she cried, `and I will tell thee: few,", "Few, but all brave, all of one mind with him;", "For I was near him when the savage yells", "Of Uther's peerage died, and Arthur sat", "Crowned on the das, and his warriors cried,", "\"Be thou the king, and we will work thy will", "Who love thee.\" Then the King in low deep tones,", "And simple words of great authority,", "Bound them by so strait vows to his own self,", "That when they rose, knighted from kneeling, some", "Were pale as at the passing of a ghost,", "Some flushed, and others dazed, as one who wakes", "Half-blinded at the coming of a light.", "", "`But when he spake and cheered his Table Round", "With large, divine, and comfortable words,", "Beyond my tongue to tell thee--I beheld", "From eye to eye through all their Order flash", "A momentary likeness of the King:", "And ere it left their faces, through the cross", "And those around it and the Crucified,", "Down from the casement over Arthur, smote", "Flame-colour, vert and azure, in three rays,", "One falling upon each of three fair queens,", "Who stood in silence near his throne, the friends", "Of Arthur, gazing on him, tall, with bright", "Sweet faces, who will help him at his need.", "", "`And there I saw mage Merlin, whose vast wit", "And hundred winters are but as the hands", "Of loyal vassals toiling for their liege.", "", "`And near him stood the Lady of the Lake,", "Who knows a subtler magic than his own--", "Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful.", "She gave the King his huge cross-hilted sword,", "Whereby to drive the heathen out: a mist", "Of incense curled about her, and her face", "Wellnigh was hidden in the minster gloom;", "But there was heard among the holy hymns", "A voice as of the waters, for she dwells", "Down in a deep; calm, whatsoever storms", "May shake the world, and when the surface rolls,", "Hath power to walk the waters like our Lord.", "", "`There likewise I beheld Excalibur", "Before him at his crowning borne, the sword", "That rose from out the bosom of the lake,", "And Arthur rowed across and took it--rich", "With jewels, elfin Urim, on the hilt,", "Bewildering heart and eye--the blade so bright", "That men are blinded by it--on one side,", "Graven in the oldest tongue of all this world,", "\"Take me,\" but turn the blade and ye shall see,", "And written in the speech ye speak yourself,", "\"Cast me away!\" And sad was Arthur's face", "Taking it, but old Merlin counselled him,", "\"Take thou and strike! the time to cast away", "Is yet far-off.\" So this great brand the king", "Took, and by this will beat his foemen down.'", "", "Thereat Leodogran rejoiced, but thought", "To sift his doubtings to the last, and asked,", "Fixing full eyes of question on her face,", "`The swallow and the swift are near akin,", "But thou art closer to this noble prince,", "Being his own dear sister;' and she said,", "`Daughter of Gorlos and Ygerne am I;'", "`And therefore Arthur's sister?' asked the King.", "She answered, `These be secret things,' and signed", "To those two sons to pass, and let them be.", "And Gawain went, and breaking into song", "Sprang out, and followed by his flying hair", "Ran like a colt, and leapt at all he saw:", "But Modred laid his ear beside the doors,", "And there half-heard; the same that afterward", "Struck for the throne, and striking found his doom.", "", "And then the Queen made answer, `What know I?", "For dark my mother was in eyes and hair,", "And dark in hair and eyes am I; and dark", "Was Gorlos, yea and dark was Uther too,", "Wellnigh to blackness; but this King is fair", "Beyond the race of Britons and of men.", "Moreover, always in my mind I hear", "A cry from out the dawning of my life,", "A mother weeping, and I hear her say,", "\"O that ye had some brother, pretty one,", "To guard thee on the rough ways of the world.\"'", "", "`Ay,' said the King, `and hear ye such a cry?", "But when did Arthur chance upon thee first?'", "", "`O King!' she cried, `and I will tell thee true:", "He found me first when yet a little maid:", "Beaten I had been for a little fault", "Whereof I was not guilty; and out I ran", "And flung myself down on a bank of heath,", "And hated this fair world and all therein,", "And wept, and wished that I were dead; and he--", "I know not whether of himself he came,", "Or brought by Merlin, who, they say, can walk", "Unseen at pleasure--he was at my side,", "And spake sweet words, and comforted my heart,", "And dried my tears, being a child with me.", "And many a time he came, and evermore", "As I grew greater grew with me; and sad", "At times he seemed, and sad with him was I,", "Stern too at times, and then I loved him not,", "But sweet again, and then I loved him well.", "And now of late I see him less and less,", "But those first days had golden hours for me,", "For then I surely thought he would be king.", "", "`But let me tell thee now another tale:", "For Bleys, our Merlin's master, as they say,", "Died but of late, and sent his cry to me,", "To hear him speak before he left his life.", "Shrunk like a fairy changeling lay the mage;", "And when I entered told me that himself", "And Merlin ever served about the King,", "Uther, before he died; and on the night", "When Uther in Tintagil past away", "Moaning and wailing for an heir, the two", "Left the still King, and passing forth to breathe,", "Then from the castle gateway by the chasm", "Descending through the dismal night--a night", "In which the bounds of heaven and earth were lost--", "Beheld, so high upon the dreary deeps", "It seemed in heaven, a ship, the shape thereof", "A dragon winged, and all from stern to stern", "Bright with a shining people on the decks,", "And gone as soon as seen. And then the two", "Dropt to the cove, and watched the great sea fall,", "Wave after wave, each mightier than the last,", "Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep", "And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged", "Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame:", "And down the wave and in the flame was borne", "A naked babe, and rode to Merlin's feet,", "Who stoopt and caught the babe, and cried \"The King!", "Here is an heir for Uther!\" And the fringe", "Of that great breaker, sweeping up the strand,", "Lashed at the wizard as he spake the word,", "And all at once all round him rose in fire,", "So that the child and he were clothed in fire.", "And presently thereafter followed calm,", "Free sky and stars: \"And this the same child,\" he said,", "\"Is he who reigns; nor could I part in peace", "Till this were told.\" And saying this the seer", "Went through the strait and dreadful pass of death,", "Not ever to be questioned any more", "Save on the further side; but when I met", "Merlin, and asked him if these things were truth--", "The shining dragon and the naked child", "Descending in the glory of the seas--", "He laughed as is his wont, and answered me", "In riddling triplets of old time, and said:", "", "`\"Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow in the sky!", "A young man will be wiser by and by;", "An old man's wit may wander ere he die.", "Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow on the lea!", "And truth is this to me, and that to thee;", "And truth or clothed or naked let it be.", "Rain, sun, and rain! and the free blossom blows:", "Sun, rain, and sun! and where is he who knows?", "From the great deep to the great deep he goes.\"", "", "`So Merlin riddling angered me; but thou", "Fear not to give this King thy only child,", "Guinevere: so great bards of him will sing", "Hereafter; and dark sayings from of old", "Ranging and ringing through the minds of men,", "And echoed by old folk beside their fires", "For comfort after their wage-work is done,", "Speak of the King; and Merlin in our time", "Hath spoken also, not in jest, and sworn", "Though men may wound him that he will not die,", "But pass, again to come; and then or now", "Utterly smite the heathen underfoot,", "Till these and all men hail him for their king.'", "", "She spake and King Leodogran rejoiced,", "But musing, `Shall I answer yea or nay?'", "Doubted, and drowsed, nodded and slept, and saw,", "Dreaming, a slope of land that ever grew,", "Field after field, up to a height, the peak", "Haze-hidden, and thereon a phantom king,", "Now looming, and now lost; and on the slope", "The sword rose, the hind fell, the herd was driven,", "Fire glimpsed; and all the land from roof and rick,", "In drifts of smoke before a rolling wind,", "Streamed to the peak, and mingled with the haze", "And made it thicker; while the phantom king", "Sent out at times a voice; and here or there", "Stood one who pointed toward the voice, the rest", "Slew on and burnt, crying, `No king of ours,", "No son of Uther, and no king of ours;'", "Till with a wink his dream was changed, the haze", "Descended, and the solid earth became", "As nothing, but the King stood out in heaven,", "Crowned. And Leodogran awoke, and sent", "Ulfius, and Brastias and Bedivere,", "Back to the court of Arthur answering yea.", "", "Then Arthur charged his warrior whom he loved", "And honoured most, Sir Lancelot, to ride forth", "And bring the Queen;--and watched him from the gates:", "And Lancelot past away among the flowers,", "(For then was latter April) and returned", "Among the flowers, in May, with Guinevere.", "To whom arrived, by Dubric the high saint,", "Chief of the church in Britain, and before", "The stateliest of her altar-shrines, the King", "That morn was married, while in stainless white,", "The fair beginners of a nobler time,", "And glorying in their vows and him, his knights", "Stood around him, and rejoicing in his joy.", "Far shone the fields of May through open door,", "The sacred altar blossomed white with May,", "The Sun of May descended on their King,", "They gazed on all earth's beauty in their Queen,", "Rolled incense, and there past along the hymns", "A voice as of the waters, while the two", "Sware at the shrine of Christ a deathless love:", "And Arthur said, `Behold, thy doom is mine.", "Let chance what will, I love thee to the death!'", "To whom the Queen replied with drooping eyes,", "`King and my lord, I love thee to the death!'", "And holy Dubric spread his hands and spake,", "`Reign ye, and live and love, and make the world", "Other, and may thy Queen be one with thee,", "And all this Order of thy Table Round", "Fulfil the boundless purpose of their King!'", "", "So Dubric said; but when they left the shrine", "Great Lords from Rome before the portal stood,", "In scornful stillness gazing as they past;", "Then while they paced a city all on fire", "With sun and cloth of gold, the trumpets blew,", "And Arthur's knighthood sang before the King:--", "", "`Blow, trumpet, for the world is white with May;", "Blow trumpet, the long night hath rolled away!", "Blow through the living world--\"Let the King reign.\"", "", "`Shall Rome or Heathen rule in Arthur's realm?", "Flash brand and lance, fall battleaxe upon helm,", "Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.", "", "`Strike for the King and live! his knights have heard", "That God hath told the King a secret word.", "Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.", "", "`Blow trumpet! he will lift us from the dust.", "Blow trumpet! live the strength and die the lust!", "Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.", "", "`Strike for the King and die! and if thou diest,", "The King is King, and ever wills the highest.", "Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.", "", "`Blow, for our Sun is mighty in his May!", "Blow, for our Sun is mightier day by day!", "Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.", "", "`The King will follow Christ, and we the King", "In whom high God hath breathed a secret thing.", "Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.'", "", "So sang the knighthood, moving to their hall.", "There at the banquet those great Lords from Rome,", "The slowly-fading mistress of the world,", "Strode in, and claimed their tribute as of yore.", "But Arthur spake, `Behold, for these have sworn", "To wage my wars, and worship me their King;", "The old order changeth, yielding place to new;", "And we that fight for our fair father Christ,", "Seeing that ye be grown too weak and old", "To drive the heathen from your Roman wall,", "No tribute will we pay:' so those great lords", "Drew back in wrath, and Arthur strove with Rome.", "", "And Arthur and his knighthood for a space", "Were all one will, and through that strength the King", "Drew in the petty princedoms under him,", "Fought, and in twelve great battles overcame", "The heathen hordes, and made a realm and reigned." ], "linecount": "519" }, { "title": "The Princess (part 3)", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Morn in the wake of the morning star", "Came furrowing all the orient into gold.", "We rose, and each by other drest with care", "Descended to the court that lay three parts", "In shadow, but the Muses' heads were touched", "Above the darkness from their native East.", "", "There while we stood beside the fount, and watched", "Or seemed to watch the dancing bubble, approached", "Melissa, tinged with wan from lack of sleep,", "Or grief, and glowing round her dewy eyes", "The circled Iris of a night of tears;", "'And fly,' she cried, 'O fly, while yet you may!", "My mother knows:' and when I asked her 'how,'", "'My fault' she wept 'my fault! and yet not mine;", "Yet mine in part. O hear me, pardon me.", "My mother, 'tis her wont from night to night", "To rail at Lady Psyche and her side.", "She says the Princess should have been the Head,", "Herself and Lady Psyche the two arms;", "And so it was agreed when first they came;", "But Lady Psyche was the right hand now,", "And the left, or not, or seldom used;", "Hers more than half the students, all the love.", "And so last night she fell to canvass you:", "~Her~ countrywomen! she did not envy her.", "\"Who ever saw such wild barbarians?", "Girls?--more like men!\" and at these words the snake,", "My secret, seemed to stir within my breast;", "And oh, Sirs, could I help it, but my cheek", "Began to burn and burn, and her lynx eye", "To fix and make me hotter, till she laughed:", "\"O marvellously modest maiden, you!", "Men! girls, like men! why, if they had been men", "You need not set your thoughts in rubric thus", "For wholesale comment.\" Pardon, I am shamed", "That I must needs repeat for my excuse", "What looks so little graceful: \"men\" (for still", "My mother went revolving on the word)", "\"And so they are,--very like men indeed--", "And with that woman closeted for hours!\"", "Then came these dreadful words out one by one,", "\"Why--these--~are~--men:\" I shuddered: \"and you know it.\"", "\"O ask me nothing,\" I said: \"And she knows too,", "And she conceals it.\" So my mother clutched", "The truth at once, but with no word from me;", "And now thus early risen she goes to inform", "The Princess: Lady Psyche will be crushed;", "But you may yet be saved, and therefore fly;", "But heal me with your pardon ere you go.'", "", "'What pardon, sweet Melissa, for a blush?'", "Said Cyril: 'Pale one, blush again: than wear", "Those lilies, better blush our lives away.", "Yet let us breathe for one hour more in Heaven'", "He added, 'lest some classic Angel speak", "In scorn of us, \"They mounted, Ganymedes,", "To tumble, Vulcans, on the second morn.\"", "But I will melt this marble into wax", "To yield us farther furlough:' and he went.", "", "Melissa shook her doubtful curls, and thought", "He scarce would prosper. 'Tell us,' Florian asked,", "'How grew this feud betwixt the right and left.'", "'O long ago,' she said, 'betwixt these two", "Division smoulders hidden; 'tis my mother,", "Too jealous, often fretful as the wind", "Pent in a crevice: much I bear with her:", "I never knew my father, but she says", "(God help her) she was wedded to a fool;", "And still she railed against the state of things.", "She had the care of Lady Ida's youth,", "And from the Queen's decease she brought her up.", "But when your sister came she won the heart", "Of Ida: they were still together, grew", "(For so they said themselves) inosculated;", "Consonant chords that shiver to one note;", "One mind in all things: yet my mother still", "Affirms your Psyche thieved her theories,", "And angled with them for her pupil's love:", "She calls her plagiarist; I know not what:", "But I must go: I dare not tarry,' and light,", "As flies the shadow of a bird, she fled.", "", "Then murmured Florian gazing after her,", "'An open-hearted maiden, true and pure.", "If I could love, why this were she: how pretty", "Her blushing was, and how she blushed again,", "As if to close with Cyril's random wish:", "Not like your Princess crammed with erring pride,", "Nor like poor Psyche whom she drags in tow.'", "", "'The crane,' I said, 'may chatter of the crane,", "The dove may murmur of the dove, but I", "An eagle clang an eagle to the sphere.", "My princess, O my princess! true she errs,", "But in her own grand way: being herself", "Three times more noble than three score of men,", "She sees herself in every woman else,", "And so she wears her error like a crown", "To blind the truth and me: for her, and her,", "Hebes are they to hand ambrosia, mix", "The nectar; but--ah she--whene'er she moves", "The Samian Herè rises and she speaks", "A Memnon smitten with the morning Sun.'", "", "So saying from the court we paced, and gained", "The terrace ranged along the Northern front,", "And leaning there on those balusters, high", "Above the empurpled champaign, drank the gale", "That blown about the foliage underneath,", "And sated with the innumerable rose,", "Beat balm upon our eyelids. Hither came", "Cyril, and yawning 'O hard task,' he cried;", "'No fighting shadows here! I forced a way", "Through opposition crabbed and gnarled.", "Better to clear prime forests, heave and thump", "A league of street in summer solstice down,", "Than hammer at this reverend gentlewoman.", "I knocked and, bidden, entered; found her there", "At point to move, and settled in her eyes", "The green malignant light of coming storm.", "Sir, I was courteous, every phrase well-oiled,", "As man's could be; yet maiden-meek I prayed", "Concealment: she demanded who we were,", "And why we came? I fabled nothing fair,", "But, your example pilot, told her all.", "Up went the hushed amaze of hand and eye.", "But when I dwelt upon your old affiance,", "She answered sharply that I talked astray.", "I urged the fierce inscription on the gate,", "And our three lives. True--we had limed ourselves", "With open eyes, and we must take the chance.", "But such extremes, I told her, well might harm", "The woman's cause. \"Not more than now,\" she said,", "\"So puddled as it is with favouritism.\"", "I tried the mother's heart. Shame might befall", "Melissa, knowing, saying not she knew:", "Her answer was \"Leave me to deal with that.\"", "I spoke of war to come and many deaths,", "And she replied, her duty was to speak,", "And duty duty, clear of consequences.", "I grew discouraged, Sir; but since I knew", "No rock so hard but that a little wave", "May beat admission in a thousand years,", "I recommenced; \"Decide not ere you pause.", "I find you here but in the second place,", "Some say the third--the authentic foundress you.", "I offer boldly: we will seat you highest:", "Wink at our advent: help my prince to gain", "His rightful bride, and here I promise you", "Some palace in our land, where you shall reign", "The head and heart of all our fair she-world,", "And your great name flow on with broadening time", "For ever.\" Well, she balanced this a little,", "And told me she would answer us today,", "meantime be mute: thus much, nor more I gained.'", "", "He ceasing, came a message from the Head.", "'That afternoon the Princess rode to take", "The dip of certain strata to the North.", "Would we go with her? we should find the land", "Worth seeing; and the river made a fall", "Out yonder:' then she pointed on to where", "A double hill ran up his furrowy forks", "Beyond the thick-leaved platans of the vale.", "", "Agreed to, this, the day fled on through all", "Its range of duties to the appointed hour.", "Then summoned to the porch we went. She stood", "Among her maidens, higher by the head,", "Her back against a pillar, her foot on one", "Of those tame leopards. Kittenlike he rolled", "And pawed about her sandal. I drew near;", "I gazed. On a sudden my strange seizure came", "Upon me, the weird vision of our house:", "The Princess Ida seemed a hollow show,", "Her gay-furred cats a painted fantasy,", "Her college and her maidens, empty masks,", "And I myself the shadow of a dream,", "For all things were and were not. Yet I felt", "My heart beat thick with passion and with awe;", "Then from my breast the involuntary sigh", "Brake, as she smote me with the light of eyes", "That lent my knee desire to kneel, and shook", "My pulses, till to horse we got, and so", "Went forth in long retinue following up", "The river as it narrowed to the hills.", "", "I rode beside her and to me she said:", "'O friend, we trust that you esteemed us not", "Too harsh to your companion yestermorn;", "Unwillingly we spake.' 'No--not to her,'", "I answered, 'but to one of whom we spake", "Your Highness might have seemed the thing you say.'", "'Again?' she cried, 'are you ambassadresses", "From him to me? we give you, being strange,", "A license: speak, and let the topic die.'", "", "I stammered that I knew him--could have wished--", "'Our king expects--was there no precontract?", "There is no truer-hearted--ah, you seem", "All he prefigured, and he could not see", "The bird of passage flying south but longed", "To follow: surely, if your Highness keep", "Your purport, you will shock him even to death,", "Or baser courses, children of despair.'", "", "'Poor boy,' she said, 'can he not read--no books?", "Quoit, tennis, ball--no games? nor deals in that", "Which men delight in, martial exercise?", "To nurse a blind ideal like a girl,", "Methinks he seems no better than a girl;", "As girls were once, as we ourself have been:", "We had our dreams; perhaps he mixt with them:", "We touch on our dead self, nor shun to do it,", "Being other--since we learnt our meaning here,", "To lift the woman's fallen divinity", "Upon an even pedestal with man.'", "", "She paused, and added with a haughtier smile", "'And as to precontracts, we move, my friend,", "At no man's beck, but know ourself and thee,", "O Vashti, noble Vashti! Summoned out", "She kept her state, and left the drunken king", "To brawl at Shushan underneath the palms.'", "", "'Alas your Highness breathes full East,' I said,", "'On that which leans to you. I know the Prince,", "I prize his truth: and then how vast a work", "To assail this gray preëminence of man!", "You grant me license; might I use it? think;", "Ere half be done perchance your life may fail;", "Then comes the feebler heiress of your plan,", "And takes and ruins all; and thus your pains", "May only make that footprint upon sand", "Which old-recurring waves of prejudice", "Resmooth to nothing: might I dread that you,", "With only Fame for spouse and your great deeds", "For issue, yet may live in vain, and miss,", "Meanwhile, what every woman counts her due,", "Love, children, happiness?'", "And she exclaimed,", "'Peace, you young savage of the Northern wild!", "What! though your Prince's love were like a God's,", "Have we not made ourself the sacrifice?", "You are bold indeed: we are not talked to thus:", "Yet will we say for children, would they grew", "Like field-flowers everywhere! we like them well:", "But children die; and let me tell you, girl,", "Howe'er you babble, great deeds cannot die;", "They with the sun and moon renew their light", "For ever, blessing those that look on them.", "Children--that men may pluck them from our hearts,", "Kill us with pity, break us with ourselves--", "O--children--there is nothing upon earth", "More miserable than she that has a son", "And sees him err: nor would we work for fame;", "Though she perhaps might reap the applause of Great,", "Who earns the one POU STO whence after-hands", "May move the world, though she herself effect", "But little: wherefore up and act, nor shrink", "For fear our solid aim be dissipated", "By frail successors. Would, indeed, we had been,", "In lieu of many mortal flies, a race", "Of giants living, each, a thousand years,", "That we might see our own work out, and watch", "The sandy footprint harden into stone.'", "", "I answered nothing, doubtful in myself", "If that strange Poet-princess with her grand", "Imaginations might at all be won.", "And she broke out interpreting my thoughts:", "", "'No doubt we seem a kind of monster to you;", "We are used to that: for women, up till this", "Cramped under worse than South-sea-isle taboo,", "Dwarfs of the gynæceum, fail so far", "In high desire, they know not, cannot guess", "How much their welfare is a passion to us.", "If we could give them surer, quicker proof--", "Oh if our end were less achievable", "By slow approaches, than by single act", "Of immolation, any phase of death,", "We were as prompt to spring against the pikes,", "Or down the fiery gulf as talk of it,", "To compass our dear sisters' liberties.'", "", "She bowed as if to veil a noble tear;", "And up we came to where the river sloped", "To plunge in cataract, shattering on black blocks", "A breadth of thunder. O'er it shook the woods,", "And danced the colour, and, below, stuck out", "The bones of some vast bulk that lived and roared", "Before man was. She gazed awhile and said,", "'As these rude bones to us, are we to her", "That will be.' 'Dare we dream of that,' I asked,", "'Which wrought us, as the workman and his work,", "That practice betters?' 'How,' she cried, 'you love", "The metaphysics! read and earn our prize,", "A golden brooch: beneath an emerald plane", "Sits Diotima, teaching him that died", "Of hemlock; our device; wrought to the life;", "She rapt upon her subject, he on her:", "For there are schools for all.' 'And yet' I said", "'Methinks I have not found among them all", "One anatomic.' 'Nay, we thought of that,'", "She answered, 'but it pleased us not: in truth", "We shudder but to dream our maids should ape", "Those monstrous males that carve the living hound,", "And cram him with the fragments of the grave,", "Or in the dark dissolving human heart,", "And holy secrets of this microcosm,", "Dabbling a shameless hand with shameful jest,", "Encarnalize their spirits: yet we know", "Knowledge is knowledge, and this matter hangs:", "Howbeit ourself, foreseeing casualty,", "Nor willing men should come among us, learnt,", "For many weary moons before we came,", "This craft of healing. Were you sick, ourself", "Would tend upon you. To your question now,", "Which touches on the workman and his work.", "Let there be light and there was light: 'tis so:", "For was, and is, and will be, are but is;", "And all creation is one act at once,", "The birth of light: but we that are not all,", "As parts, can see but parts, now this, now that,", "And live, perforce, from thought to thought, and make", "One act a phantom of succession: thus", "Our weakness somehow shapes the shadow, Time;", "But in the shadow will we work, and mould", "The woman to the fuller day.'", "She spake", "With kindled eyes; we rode a league beyond,", "And, o'er a bridge of pinewood crossing, came", "On flowery levels underneath the crag,", "Full of all beauty. 'O how sweet' I said", "(For I was half-oblivious of my mask)", "'To linger here with one that loved us.' 'Yea,'", "She answered, 'or with fair philosophies", "That lift the fancy; for indeed these fields", "Are lovely, lovelier not the Elysian lawns,", "Where paced the Demigods of old, and saw", "The soft white vapour streak the crownèd towers", "Built to the Sun:' then, turning to her maids,", "'Pitch our pavilion here upon the sward;", "Lay out the viands.' At the word, they raised", "A tent of satin, elaborately wrought", "With fair Corinna's triumph; here she stood,", "Engirt with many a florid maiden-cheek,", "The woman-conqueror; woman-conquered there", "The bearded Victor of ten-thousand hymns,", "And all the men mourned at his side: but we", "Set forth to climb; then, climbing, Cyril kept", "With Psyche, with Melissa Florian, I", "With mine affianced. Many a little hand", "Glanced like a touch of sunshine on the rocks,", "Many a light foot shone like a jewel set", "In the dark crag: and then we turned, we wound", "About the cliffs, the copses, out and in,", "Hammering and clinking, chattering stony names", "Of shales and hornblende, rag and trap and tuff,", "Amygdaloid and trachyte, till the Sun", "Grew broader toward his death and fell, and all", "The rosy heights came out above the lawns.", "", "", "The splendour falls on castle walls", "And snowy summits old in story:", "The long light shakes across the lakes,", "And the wild cataract leaps in glory.", "Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,", "Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.", "", "O hark, O hear! how thin and clear,", "And thinner, clearer, farther going!", "O sweet and far from cliff and scar", "The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!", "Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying:", "Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.", "", "O love, they die in yon rich sky,", "They faint on hill or field or river:", "Our echoes roll from soul to soul,", "And grow for ever and for ever.", "Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,", "And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying." ], "linecount": "367" }, { "title": "Lucretius", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Lucilla, wedded to Lucretius, found", "Her master cold; for when the morning flush", "Of passion and the first embrace had died", "Between them, tho' he loved her none the less,", "Yet often when the woman heard his foot", "Return from pacings in the field, and ran", "To greet him with a kiss, the master took", "Small notice, or austerely, for his mind", "Half buried in some weightier argument,", "Or fancy-borne perhaps upon the rise", "And long roll of the hexameter -- he past", "To turn and ponder those three hundred scrolls", "Left by the Teacher, whom he held divine.", "She brook'd it not, but wrathful, petulant", "Dreaming some rival, sought and found a witch", "Who brew'd the philtre which had power, they said", "To lead an errant passion home again.", "And this, at times, she mingled with his drink,", "And this destroy'd him; for the wicked broth", "Confused the chemic labor of the blood,", "And tickling the brute brain within the man's", "Made havoc among those tender cells, and check'd", "His power to shape. He loathed himself, and once", "After a tempest woke upon a morn", "That mock'd him with returning calm, and cried:", "", "\"Storm in the night! for thrice I heard the rain", "Rushing; and once the flash of a thunderbolt --", "Methought I never saw so fierce a fork --", "Struck out the streaming mountain-side, and show'd", "A riotous confluence of watercourses", "Blanching and billowing in a hollow of it,", "Where all but yester-eve was dusty-dry.", "", "\"Storm, and what dreams, ye holy Gods, what dreams!", "For thrice I waken'd after dreams. Perchance", "We do but recollect the dreams that come", "Just ere the waking. Terrible: for it seem'd", "A void was made in Nature, all her bonds", "Crack'd; and I saw the flaring atom-streams", "And torrents of her myriad universe,", "Ruining along the illimitable inane,", "Fly on to clash together again, and make", "Another and another frame of things", "For ever. That was mine, my dream, I knew it --", "Of and belonging to me, as the dog", "With inward yelp and restless forefoot plies", "His function of the woodland; but the next!", "I thought that all the blood by Sylla shed", "Came driving rainlike down again on earth,", "And where it dash'd the reddening meadow, sprang", "No dragon warriors from Cadmean teeth,", "For these I thought my dream would show to me,", "But girls, Hetairai, curious in their art,", "Hired animalisms, vile as those that made", "The mulberry-faced Dictator's orgies worse", "Than aught they fable of the quiet Gods.", "And hands they mixt, and yell'd and round me drove", "In narrowing circles till I yell'd again", "Half-suffocated, and sprang up, and saw --", "Was it the first beam of my latest day?", "", "\"Then, then, from utter gloom stood out the", "The breasts of Helen, and hoveringly a sword", "Now over and now under, now direct,", "Pointed itself to pierce, but sank down shamed", "At all that beauty; and as I stared, a fire,", "The fire that left a roofless Ilion,", "Shot out of them, and scorch'd me that I woke.", "", "\"Is this thy vengeance, holy Venus, thine,", "Because I would not one of thine own doves,", "Not even a rose, were offered to thee? thine,", "Forgetful how my rich proemion makes", "Thy glory fly along the Italian field,", "In lays that will outlast thy deity?", "", "\"Deity? nay, thy worshippers. My tongue", "Trips, or I speak profanely. Which of these", "Angers thee most, or angers thee at all?", "Not if thou be'st of those who, far aloof", "From envy, hate and pity, and spite and scorn,", "Live the great life which all our greatest fain", "Would follow, centred in eternal calm.", "", "\"Nay, if thou canst,", "Goddess, like ourselves", "Touch, and be touch'd, then would I cry to thee", "To kiss thy Mavors, roll thy tender arms", "Round him, and keep him from the lust of blood", "That makes a steaming slaughter-house of Rome.", "", "\"Ay, but I meant not thee; I meant riot her", "Whom all the pines of Ida shook to see", "Slide from that quiet heaven of hers, and tempt", "The Trojan, while his neatherds were abroad", "Nor her that o'er her wounded hunter wept", "Her deity false in human-amorous tears;", "Nor whom her beardless apple-arbiter", "Decided fairest. Rather, O ye Gods,", "Poet-like, as the great Sicilian called", "Calliope to grace his golden verse --", "Ay, and this Kypris also -- did I take", "That popular name of thine to shadow forth", "The all-generating powers and genial heat", "Of Nature, when she strikes thro' the thick blood", "Of cattle, and light is large, and lambs are glad", "Nosing the mother's udder, and the bird", "Makes his heart voice amid the blaze of flowers;", "Which things appear the work of mighty Gods.", "", "\"The Gods! and if I go my work is left", "Unfinish'd -- if I go. The Gods, who haunt", "The lucid interspace of world and world,", "Where never creeps a cloud, or moves a wind,", "Nor ever falls the least white star of mow", "Nor ever lowest roll of thunder moans,", "Nor sound of human sorrow mounts to mar", "Their sacred everlasting calm! and such,", "Not all so fine, nor so divine a calm", "Not such, nor all unlike it, man may gain", "Letting his own life go. The Gods, the Godsl", "If all be atoms, how then should the Gods", "Being atomic not be dissoluble,", "Not follow the great law? My master held", "That Gods there are, for all men so believe.", "I prest my footsteps into his, and meant", "Surely to lead my Memmius in a train", "Of fiowery clauses onward to the proof", "That Gods there are, and deathless. Meant? I meant?", "I have forgotten what I meant, my mind", "Stumbles, and all my faculties are lamed.", "", "\"Look where another of our Gods, the Sun", "Apollo, Delius, or of older use", "All-seeing Hyperion -- what you will --", "Has mounted yonder; since he never sware,", "Except his wrath were wreak'd on wretched man,", "That he would only shine among the dead", "Hereafter -- tales! for never yet on earth", "Could dead flesh creep, or bits of roasting ox", "Moan round the spit -- nor knows he what he sees;", "King of the East altho' he seem, and girt", "With song and flame and fragrance, slowly lifts", "His golden feet on those empurpled stairs", "That climb into the windy halls of heaven", "And here he glances on an eye new-born,", "And gets for greeting but a wail of pain;", "And here he stays upon a freezing orb", "That fain would gaze upon him to the last;", "And here upon a yellow eyelid fallen", "And closed by those who mourn a friend in vain,", "Not thankful that his troubles are no more.", "And me, altho' his fire is on my face", "Blinding, he sees not, nor at all can tell", "Whether I mean this day to end myself.", "Or lend an ear to Plato where he says,", "That men like soldiers may not quit the post", "Allotted by the Gods. But he that holds", "The Gods are careless, wherefore need he care", "Greatly for them, nor rather plunge at once,", "Being troubled, wholly out of sight, and sink", "Past earthquake -- ay, and gout and stone, that break", "Body toward death, and palsy, death-in-life,", "And wretched age -- and worst disease of all,", "These prodigies of myriad nakednesses,", "And twisted shapes of lust, unspeakable,", "Abominable, strangers at my hearth", "Not welcome, harpies miring every dish,", "The phantom husks of something foully done,", "And fleeting thro' the boundless universe,", "And blasting the long quiet of my breast", "With animal heat and dire insanity?", "", "\"How should the mind, except it loved them, clasp", "These idols to herself? or do they fly", "Now thinner, and now thicker, like the flakes", "In a fall of snow, and so press in, perforce", "Of multitude, as crowds that in an hour", "Of civic tumult jam the doors, and bear", "The keepers down, and throng, their rags and the", "The basest, far into that council-hall", "Where sit the best and stateliest of the land?", "", "³Can I not fling this horror off me again,", "Seeing with how great ease Nature can smile", "Balmier and nobler from her bath of storm,", "At random ravage? and how easily", "The mountain there has cast his cloudy slough,", "Now towering o'er him in serenest air,", "A mountain o'er a mountain, -- ay, and within", "All hollow as the hopes and fears of men?", "", "\"But who was he that in the garden snared", "Picus and Faunus, rustic Gods? a tale", "To laugh at -- more to laugh at in myself --", "For look! what is it? there? yon arbutus", "Totters; a noiseless riot underneath", "Strikes through the wood, sets all the tops quivering -- ;", "The mountain quickens into Nymph and Faun,", "And here an Oread -- how the sun delights", "To glance and shift about her slippery sides,", "And rosy knees and supple roundedness,", "And budded bosom-peaks -- who this way runs", "Before the rest! -- a satyr, a satyr, see,", "Follows; but him I proved impossible", "Twy-natured is no nature. Yet he draws", "Nearer and nearer, and I scan him now", "Beastlier than any phantom of his kind", "That ever butted his rough brother-brute", "For lust or lusty blood or provender.", "I hate, abhor, spit, sicken at him; and she", "Loathes him as well; such a precipitate heel,", "Fledged as it were with Mercury's ankle-wing,", "Whirls her to me -- ;but will she fling herself", "Shameless upon me? Catch her, goatfoot! nay,", "Hide, hide them, million-myrtled wilderness,", "", "And cavern-shadowing laurels, hide! do I wish --", "What? -- ;that the bush were leafless? or to whelm", "All of them in one massacre? O ye Gods", "I know you careless, yet, behold, to you", "From childly wont and ancient use I call --", "I thought I lived securely as yourselves --", "No lewdness, narrowing envy, monkey-spite,", "No madness of ambition, avarice, none;", "No larger feast than under plane or pine", "With neighbors laid along the grass, to take", "Only such cups as left us friendly-warm,", "Affirming each his own philosophy", "Nothing to mar the sober majesties", "Of settled, sweet, Epicurean life.", "But now it seems some unseen monster lays", "His vast and filthy hands upon my will,", "Wrenching it backward into his, and spoils", "My bliss in being; and it was not great,", "For save when shutting reasons up in rhythm,", "Or Heliconian honey in living words,", "To make a truth less harsh, I often grew", "Tired of so much within our little life", "Or of so little in our little life --", "Poor little life that toddles half an hour", "Crown'd with a flower or two, and there an end --", "And since the nobler pleasure seems to fade,", "Why should I, beastlike as I find myself,", "Not manlike end myself? -- our privilege -- ;", "What beast has heart to do it? And what man", "What Roman would be dragg'd in triumph thus?", "Not I; not he, who bears one name with her", "Whose death-blow struck the dateless doom of kings,", "When, brooking not the Tarquin in her veins,", "She made her blood in sight of Collatine", "And all his peers, flushing the guiltless air,", "Spout from the maiden fountain in her heart.", "And from it sprang the Commonwealth, which breaks", "As I am breaking now!", "", "\"And therefore now", "Let her, that is the womb and tomb of all", "Great Nature, take, and forcing far apart", "Those blind beginnings that have made me man,", "Dash them anew together at her will", "Thro' all her cycles -- into man once more,", "Or beast or bird or fish, or opulent flower.", "But till this cosmic order everywhere", "Shatter'd into one earthquake m one day", "Cracks all to pieces, -- and that hour perhaps", "Is not so far when momentary man", "Shall seem no more a something to himself,", "But he, his hopes and hates, his homes and fanes", "And even his bones long laid within the grave,", "The very sides of the grave itself shall pass,", "Vanishing, atom and void, atom and void,", "Into the unseen for ever, -- till that hour,", "My golden work in which I told a truth", "That stays the rolling Ixionian wheel,", "And numbs the Fury's ringlet-snake, and plucks", "The mortal soul from out immortal hell", "Shall stand. Ay, surely; then it fails at last", "And perishes as I must, for O Thou", "Passionless bride, divine Tranquillity,", "Yearn'd after by the wisest of the wise", "Who fail to find thee, being as thou art", "Without one pleasure and without one pain,", "Howbeit I know thou surely must be mine", "Or soon or late, yet out of season, thus", "I woo thee roughly, for thou carest not", "How roughly men may woo thee so they win -- ;", "Thus -- thus -- the soul flies out and dies in the air", "", "With that he drove the knife into his side.", "She heard him raging, heard him fall, ran in,", "Beat breast, tore hair, cried out upon herself", "As having fail'd in duty to him, shriek'd", "That she but meant to win him back, fell on him", "Clasp'd, kiss'd him, wail'd. He answer'd, \"Care not thou!", "Thy duty? What is duty? Fare thee well!\"" ], "linecount": "282" }, { "title": "Of Old Sat Freedom", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Of old sat Freedom on the heights,", "The thunders breaking at her feet:", "Above her shook the starry lights:", "She heard the torrents meet.", "", "There in her place she did rejoice,", "Self-gather'd in her prophet-mind,", "But fragments of her mighty voice", "Came rolling on the wind.", "", "Then stept she down thro' town and field", "To mingle with the human race,", "And part by part to men reveal'd", "The fullness of her face --", "", "Grave mother of majestic works,", "From her isle-alter gazing down,", "Who, God-like, grasps the triple forks,", "And, King-like, wears the crown:", "", "Her open eyes desire the truth.", "The wisdom of a thousand years", "Is in them. May perpetual youth", "Keep dry their light from tears;", "", "That her fair form may stand and shine", "Make bright our days and light our dreams,", "Turning to scorn with lips divine", "The falsehood of extremes!" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "The Princess (part 7)", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "So was their sanctuary violated,", "So their fair college turned to hospital;", "At first with all confusion: by and by", "Sweet order lived again with other laws:", "A kindlier influence reigned; and everywhere", "Low voices with the ministering hand", "Hung round the sick: the maidens came, they talked,", "They sang, they read: till she not fair began", "To gather light, and she that was, became", "Her former beauty treble; and to and fro", "With books, with flowers, with Angel offices,", "Like creatures native unto gracious act,", "And in their own clear element, they moved.", "", "But sadness on the soul of Ida fell,", "And hatred of her weakness, blent with shame.", "Old studies failed; seldom she spoke: but oft", "Clomb to the roofs, and gazed alone for hours", "On that disastrous leaguer, swarms of men", "Darkening her female field: void was her use,", "And she as one that climbs a peak to gaze", "O'er land and main, and sees a great black cloud", "Drag inward from the deeps, a wall of night,", "Blot out the slope of sea from verge to shore,", "And suck the blinding splendour from the sand,", "And quenching lake by lake and tarn by tarn", "Expunge the world: so fared she gazing there;", "So blackened all her world in secret, blank", "And waste it seemed and vain; till down she came,", "And found fair peace once more among the sick.", "", "And twilight dawned; and morn by morn the lark", "Shot up and shrilled in flickering gyres, but I", "Lay silent in the muffled cage of life:", "And twilight gloomed; and broader-grown the bowers", "Drew the great night into themselves, and Heaven,", "Star after Star, arose and fell; but I,", "Deeper than those weird doubts could reach me, lay", "Quite sundered from the moving Universe,", "Nor knew what eye was on me, nor the hand", "That nursed me, more than infants in their sleep.", "", "But Psyche tended Florian: with her oft,", "Melissa came; for Blanche had gone, but left", "Her child among us, willing she should keep", "Court-favour: here and there the small bright head,", "A light of healing, glanced about the couch,", "Or through the parted silks the tender face", "Peeped, shining in upon the wounded man", "With blush and smile, a medicine in themselves", "To wile the length from languorous hours, and draw", "The sting from pain; nor seemed it strange that soon", "He rose up whole, and those fair charities", "Joined at her side; nor stranger seemed that hears", "So gentle, so employed, should close in love,", "Than when two dewdrops on the petals shake", "To the same sweet air, and tremble deeper down,", "And slip at once all-fragrant into one.", "", "Less prosperously the second suit obtained", "At first with Psyche. Not though Blanche had sworn", "That after that dark night among the fields", "She needs must wed him for her own good name;", "Not though he built upon the babe restored;", "Nor though she liked him, yielded she, but feared", "To incense the Head once more; till on a day", "When Cyril pleaded, Ida came behind", "Seen but of Psyche: on her foot she hung", "A moment, and she heard, at which her face", "A little flushed, and she past on; but each", "Assumed from thence a half-consent involved", "In stillness, plighted troth, and were at peace.", "", "Nor only these: Love in the sacred halls", "Held carnival at will, and flying struck", "With showers of random sweet on maid and man.", "Nor did her father cease to press my claim,", "Nor did mine own, now reconciled; nor yet", "Did those twin-brothers, risen again and whole;", "Nor Arac, satiate with his victory.", "", "But I lay still, and with me oft she sat:", "Then came a change; for sometimes I would catch", "Her hand in wild delirium, gripe it hard,", "And fling it like a viper off, and shriek", "'You are not Ida;' clasp it once again,", "And call her Ida, though I knew her not,", "And call her sweet, as if in irony,", "And call her hard and cold which seemed a truth:", "And still she feared that I should lose my mind,", "And often she believed that I should die:", "Till out of long frustration of her care,", "And pensive tendance in the all-weary noons,", "And watches in the dead, the dark, when clocks", "Throbbed thunder through the palace floors, or called", "On flying Time from all their silver tongues--", "And out of memories of her kindlier days,", "And sidelong glances at my father's grief,", "And at the happy lovers heart in heart--", "And out of hauntings of my spoken love,", "And lonely listenings to my muttered dream,", "And often feeling of the helpless hands,", "And wordless broodings on the wasted cheek--", "From all a closer interest flourished up,", "Tenderness touch by touch, and last, to these,", "Love, like an Alpine harebell hung with tears", "By some cold morning glacier; frail at first", "And feeble, all unconscious of itself,", "But such as gathered colour day by day.", "", "Last I woke sane, but well-nigh close to death", "For weakness: it was evening: silent light", "Slept on the painted walls, wherein were wrought", "Two grand designs; for on one side arose", "The women up in wild revolt, and stormed", "At the Oppian Law. Titanic shapes, they crammed", "The forum, and half-crushed among the rest", "A dwarf-like Cato cowered. On the other side", "Hortensia spoke against the tax; behind,", "A train of dames: by axe and eagle sat,", "With all their foreheads drawn in Roman scowls,", "And half the wolf's-milk curdled in their veins,", "The fierce triumvirs; and before them paused", "Hortensia pleading: angry was her face.", "", "I saw the forms: I knew not where I was:", "They did but look like hollow shows; nor more", "Sweet Ida: palm to palm she sat: the dew", "Dwelt in her eyes, and softer all her shape", "And rounder seemed: I moved: I sighed: a touch", "Came round my wrist, and tears upon my hand:", "Then all for languor and self-pity ran", "Mine down my face, and with what life I had,", "And like a flower that cannot all unfold,", "So drenched it is with tempest, to the sun,", "Yet, as it may, turns toward him, I on her", "Fixt my faint eyes, and uttered whisperingly:", "", "'If you be, what I think you, some sweet dream,", "I would but ask you to fulfil yourself:", "But if you be that Ida whom I knew,", "I ask you nothing: only, if a dream,", "Sweet dream, be perfect. I shall die tonight.", "Stoop down and seem to kiss me ere I die.'", "", "I could no more, but lay like one in trance,", "That hears his burial talked of by his friends,", "And cannot speak, nor move, nor make one sign,", "But lies and dreads his doom. She turned; she paused;", "She stooped; and out of languor leapt a cry;", "Leapt fiery Passion from the brinks of death;", "And I believed that in the living world", "My spirit closed with Ida's at the lips;", "Till back I fell, and from mine arms she rose", "Glowing all over noble shame; and all", "Her falser self slipt from her like a robe,", "And left her woman, lovelier in her mood", "Than in her mould that other, when she came", "From barren deeps to conquer all with love;", "And down the streaming crystal dropt; and she", "Far-fleeted by the purple island-sides,", "Naked, a double light in air and wave,", "To meet her Graces, where they decked her out", "For worship without end; nor end of mine,", "Stateliest, for thee! but mute she glided forth,", "Nor glanced behind her, and I sank and slept,", "Filled through and through with Love, a happy sleep.", "", "Deep in the night I woke: she, near me, held", "A volume of the Poets of her land:", "There to herself, all in low tones, she read.", "", "", "'Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white;", "Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk;", "Nor winks the gold fin in the porphyry font:", "The fire-fly wakens: wake thou with me.", "", "Now droops the milkwhite peacock like a ghost,", "And like a ghost she glimmers on to me.", "", "Now lies the Earth all Danaë to the stars,", "And all thy heart lies open unto me.", "", "Now lies the silent meteor on, and leaves", "A shining furrow, as thy thoughts in me.", "", "Now folds the lily all her sweetness up,", "And slips into the bosom of the lake:", "So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip", "Into my bosom and be lost in me.'", "", "", "I heard her turn the page; she found a small", "Sweet Idyl, and once more, as low, she read:", "", "", "'Come down, O maid, from yonder mountain height:", "What pleasure lives in height (the shepherd sang)", "In height and cold, the splendour of the hills?", "But cease to move so near the Heavens, and cease", "To glide a sunbeam by the blasted Pine,", "To sit a star upon the sparkling spire;", "And come, for love is of the valley, come,", "For love is of the valley, come thou down", "And find him; by the happy threshold, he,", "Or hand in hand with Plenty in the maize,", "Or red with spirted purple of the vats,", "Or foxlike in the vine; nor cares to walk", "With Death and Morning on the silver horns,", "Nor wilt thou snare him in the white ravine,", "Nor find him dropt upon the firths of ice,", "That huddling slant in furrow-cloven falls", "To roll the torrent out of dusky doors:", "But follow; let the torrent dance thee down", "To find him in the valley; let the wild", "Lean-headed Eagles yelp alone, and leave", "The monstrous ledges there to slope, and spill", "Their thousand wreaths of dangling water-smoke,", "That like a broken purpose waste in air:", "So waste not thou; but come; for all the vales", "Await thee; azure pillars of the hearth", "Arise to thee; the children call, and I", "Thy shepherd pipe, and sweet is every sound,", "Sweeter thy voice, but every sound is sweet;", "Myriads of rivulets hurrying through the lawn,", "The moan of doves in immemorial elms,", "And murmuring of innumerable bees.'", "", "", "So she low-toned; while with shut eyes I lay", "Listening; then looked. Pale was the perfect face;", "The bosom with long sighs laboured; and meek", "Seemed the full lips, and mild the luminous eyes,", "And the voice trembled and the hand. She said", "Brokenly, that she knew it, she had failed", "In sweet humility; had failed in all;", "That all her labour was but as a block", "Left in the quarry; but she still were loth,", "She still were loth to yield herself to one", "That wholly scorned to help their equal rights", "Against the sons of men, and barbarous laws.", "She prayed me not to judge their cause from her", "That wronged it, sought far less for truth than power", "In knowledge: something wild within her breast,", "A greater than all knowledge, beat her down.", "And she had nursed me there from week to week:", "Much had she learnt in little time. In part", "It was ill counsel had misled the girl", "To vex true hearts: yet was she but a girl--", "'Ah fool, and made myself a Queen of farce!", "When comes another such? never, I think,", "Till the Sun drop, dead, from the signs.'", "Her voice", "choked, and her forehead sank upon her hands,", "And her great heart through all the faultful Past", "Went sorrowing in a pause I dared not break;", "Till notice of a change in the dark world", "Was lispt about the acacias, and a bird,", "That early woke to feed her little ones,", "Sent from a dewy breast a cry for light:", "She moved, and at her feet the volume fell.", "", "'Blame not thyself too much,' I said, 'nor blame", "Too much the sons of men and barbarous laws;", "These were the rough ways of the world till now.", "Henceforth thou hast a helper, me, that know", "The woman's cause is man's: they rise or sink", "Together, dwarfed or godlike, bond or free:", "For she that out of Lethe scales with man", "The shining steps of Nature, shares with man", "His nights, his days, moves with him to one goal,", "Stays all the fair young planet in her hands--", "If she be small, slight-natured, miserable,", "How shall men grow? but work no more alone!", "Our place is much: as far as in us lies", "We two will serve them both in aiding her--", "Will clear away the parasitic forms", "That seem to keep her up but drag her down--", "Will leave her space to burgeon out of all", "Within her--let her make herself her own", "To give or keep, to live and learn and be", "All that not harms distinctive womanhood.", "For woman is not undevelopt man,", "But diverse: could we make her as the man,", "Sweet Love were slain: his dearest bond is this,", "Not like to like, but like in difference.", "Yet in the long years liker must they grow;", "The man be more of woman, she of man;", "He gain in sweetness and in moral height,", "Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world;", "She mental breadth, nor fail in childward care,", "Nor lose the childlike in the larger mind;", "Till at the last she set herself to man,", "Like perfect music unto noble words;", "And so these twain, upon the skirts of Time,", "Sit side by side, full-summed in all their powers,", "Dispensing harvest, sowing the To-be,", "Self-reverent each and reverencing each,", "Distinct in individualities,", "But like each other even as those who love.", "Then comes the statelier Eden back to men:", "Then reign the world's great bridals, chaste and calm:", "Then springs the crowning race of humankind.", "May these things be!'", "Sighing she spoke 'I fear", "They will not.'", "'Dear, but let us type them now", "In our own lives, and this proud watchword rest", "Of equal; seeing either sex alone", "Is half itself, and in true marriage lies", "Nor equal, nor unequal: each fulfils", "Defect in each, and always thought in thought,", "Purpose in purpose, will in will, they grow,", "The single pure and perfect animal,", "The two-celled heart beating, with one full stroke,", "Life.'", "And again sighing she spoke: 'A dream", "That once was mind! what woman taught you this?'", "", "'Alone,' I said, 'from earlier than I know,", "Immersed in rich foreshadowings of the world,", "I loved the woman: he, that doth not, lives", "A drowning life, besotted in sweet self,", "Or pines in sad experience worse than death,", "Or keeps his winged affections clipt with crime:", "Yet was there one through whom I loved her, one", "Not learnèd, save in gracious household ways,", "Not perfect, nay, but full of tender wants,", "No Angel, but a dearer being, all dipt", "In Angel instincts, breathing Paradise,", "Interpreter between the Gods and men,", "Who looked all native to her place, and yet", "On tiptoe seemed to touch upon a sphere", "Too gross to tread, and all male minds perforce", "Swayed to her from their orbits as they moved,", "And girdled her with music. Happy he", "With such a mother! faith in womankind", "Beats with his blood, and trust in all things high", "Comes easy to him, and though he trip and fall", "He shall not blind his soul with clay.'", "'But I,'", "Said Ida, tremulously, 'so all unlike--", "It seems you love to cheat yourself with words:", "This mother is your model. I have heard", "of your strange doubts: they well might be: I seem", "A mockery to my own self. Never, Prince;", "You cannot love me.'", "'Nay but thee' I said", "'From yearlong poring on thy pictured eyes,", "Ere seen I loved, and loved thee seen, and saw", "Thee woman through the crust of iron moods", "That masked thee from men's reverence up, and forced", "Sweet love on pranks of saucy boyhood: now,", "Given back to life, to life indeed, through thee,", "Indeed I love: the new day comes, the light", "Dearer for night, as dearer thou for faults", "Lived over: lift thine eyes; my doubts are dead,", "My haunting sense of hollow shows: the change,", "This truthful change in thee has killed it. Dear,", "Look up, and let thy nature strike on mine,", "Like yonder morning on the blind half-world;", "Approach and fear not; breathe upon my brows;", "In that fine air I tremble, all the past", "Melts mist-like into this bright hour, and this", "Is morn to more, and all the rich to-come", "Reels, as the golden Autumn woodland reels", "Athwart the smoke of burning weeds. Forgive me,", "I waste my heart in signs: let be. My bride,", "My wife, my life. O we will walk this world,", "Yoked in all exercise of noble end,", "And so through those dark gates across the wild", "That no man knows. Indeed I love thee: come,", "Yield thyself up: my hopes and thine are one:", "Accomplish thou my manhood and thyself;", "Lay thy sweet hands in mine and trust to me.'" ], "linecount": "351" }, { "title": "In Memoriam A. H. H. Obiit MDCCCXXXIII: 3. O Sorrow, cruel", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "O Sorrow, cruel fellowship,", "O Priestess in the vaults of Death,", "O sweet and bitter in a breath,", "What whispers from thy lying lip?", "\"The stars,\" she whispers, \"blindly run;", "A web is wov'n across the sky;", "From out waste places comes a cry,", "And murmurs from the dying sun:", "\"And all the phantom, Nature, stands--", "With all the music in her tone,", "A hollow echo of my own,--", "A hollow form with empty hands.\"", "", "And shall I take a thing so blind,", "Embrace her as my natural good;", "Or crush her, like a vice of blood,", "Upon the threshold of the mind?" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "And ask ye why these sad tears stream?", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "‘Te somnia nostra reducunt.’", "OVID.", "", "And ask ye why these sad tears stream?", "Why these wan eyes are dim with weeping?", "I had a dream–a lovely dream,", "Of her that in the grave is sleeping.", "", "I saw her as ’twas yesterday,", "The bloom upon her cheek still glowing;", "And round her play’d a golden ray,", "And on her brows were gay flowers blowing.", "", "With angel-hand she swept a lyre,", "A garland red with roses bound it;", "Its strings were wreath’d with lambent fire", "And amaranth was woven round it.", "", "I saw her mid the realms of light,", "In everlasting radiance gleaming;", "Co-equal with the seraphs bright,", "Mid thousand thousand angels beaming.", "", "I strove to reach her, when, behold,", "Those fairy forms of bliss Elysian,", "And all that rich scene wrapt in gold,", "Faded in air–a lovely vision!", "", "And I awoke, but oh! to me", "That waking hour was doubly weary;", "And yet I could not envy thee,", "Although so blest, and I so dreary." ], "linecount": "26" }, { "title": "The Last Tournament", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Dagonet, the fool, whom Gawain in his mood", "Had made mock-knight of Arthur's Table Round,", "At Camelot, high above the yellowing woods,", "Danced like a withered leaf before the hall.", "And toward him from the hall, with harp in hand,", "And from the crown thereof a carcanet", "Of ruby swaying to and fro, the prize", "Of Tristram in the jousts of yesterday,", "Came Tristram, saying, `Why skip ye so, Sir Fool?'", "", "For Arthur and Sir Lancelot riding once", "Far down beneath a winding wall of rock", "Heard a child wail. A stump of oak half-dead,", "From roots like some black coil of carven snakes,", "Clutched at the crag, and started through mid air", "Bearing an eagle's nest: and through the tree", "Rushed ever a rainy wind, and through the wind", "Pierced ever a child's cry: and crag and tree", "Scaling, Sir Lancelot from the perilous nest,", "This ruby necklace thrice around her neck,", "And all unscarred from beak or talon, brought", "A maiden babe; which Arthur pitying took,", "Then gave it to his Queen to rear: the Queen", "But coldly acquiescing, in her white arms", "Received, and after loved it tenderly,", "And named it Nestling; so forgot herself", "A moment, and her cares; till that young life", "Being smitten in mid heaven with mortal cold", "Past from her; and in time the carcanet", "Vext her with plaintive memories of the child:", "So she, delivering it to Arthur, said,", "`Take thou the jewels of this dead innocence,", "And make them, an thou wilt, a tourney-prize.'", "", "To whom the King, `Peace to thine eagle-borne", "Dead nestling, and this honour after death,", "Following thy will! but, O my Queen, I muse", "Why ye not wear on arm, or neck, or zone", "Those diamonds that I rescued from the tarn,", "And Lancelot won, methought, for thee to wear.'", "", "`Would rather you had let them fall,' she cried,", "`Plunge and be lost--ill-fated as they were,", "A bitterness to me!--ye look amazed,", "Not knowing they were lost as soon as given--", "Slid from my hands, when I was leaning out", "Above the river--that unhappy child", "Past in her barge: but rosier luck will go", "With these rich jewels, seeing that they came", "Not from the skeleton of a brother-slayer,", "But the sweet body of a maiden babe.", "Perchance--who knows?--the purest of thy knights", "May win them for the purest of my maids.'", "", "She ended, and the cry of a great jousts", "With trumpet-blowings ran on all the ways", "From Camelot in among the faded fields", "To furthest towers; and everywhere the knights", "Armed for a day of glory before the King.", "", "But on the hither side of that loud morn", "Into the hall staggered, his visage ribbed", "From ear to ear with dogwhip-weals, his nose", "Bridge-broken, one eye out, and one hand off,", "And one with shattered fingers dangling lame,", "A churl, to whom indignantly the King,", "", "`My churl, for whom Christ died, what evil beast", "Hath drawn his claws athwart thy face? or fiend?", "Man was it who marred heaven's image in thee thus?'", "", "Then, sputtering through the hedge of splintered teeth,", "Yet strangers to the tongue, and with blunt stump", "Pitch-blackened sawing the air, said the maimed churl,", "", "`He took them and he drave them to his tower--", "Some hold he was a table-knight of thine--", "A hundred goodly ones--the Red Knight, he--", "Lord, I was tending swine, and the Red Knight", "Brake in upon me and drave them to his tower;", "And when I called upon thy name as one", "That doest right by gentle and by churl,", "Maimed me and mauled, and would outright have slain,", "Save that he sware me to a message, saying,", "\"Tell thou the King and all his liars, that I", "Have founded my Round Table in the North,", "And whatsoever his own knights have sworn", "My knights have sworn the counter to it--and say", "My tower is full of harlots, like his court,", "But mine are worthier, seeing they profess", "To be none other than themselves--and say", "My knights are all adulterers like his own,", "But mine are truer, seeing they profess", "To be none other; and say his hour is come,", "The heathen are upon him, his long lance", "Broken, and his Excalibur a straw.\"'", "", "Then Arthur turned to Kay the seneschal,", "`Take thou my churl, and tend him curiously", "Like a king's heir, till all his hurts be whole.", "The heathen--but that ever-climbing wave,", "Hurled back again so often in empty foam,", "Hath lain for years at rest--and renegades,", "Thieves, bandits, leavings of confusion, whom", "The wholesome realm is purged of otherwhere,", "Friends, through your manhood and your fealty,--now", "Make their last head like Satan in the North.", "My younger knights, new-made, in whom your flower", "Waits to be solid fruit of golden deeds,", "Move with me toward their quelling, which achieved,", "The loneliest ways are safe from shore to shore.", "But thou, Sir Lancelot, sitting in my place", "Enchaired tomorrow, arbitrate the field;", "For wherefore shouldst thou care to mingle with it,", "Only to yield my Queen her own again?", "Speak, Lancelot, thou art silent: is it well?'", "", "Thereto Sir Lancelot answered, `It is well:", "Yet better if the King abide, and leave", "The leading of his younger knights to me.", "Else, for the King has willed it, it is well.'", "", "Then Arthur rose and Lancelot followed him,", "And while they stood without the doors, the King", "Turned to him saying, `Is it then so well?", "Or mine the blame that oft I seem as he", "Of whom was written, \"A sound is in his ears\"?", "The foot that loiters, bidden go,--the glance", "That only seems half-loyal to command,--", "A manner somewhat fallen from reverence--", "Or have I dreamed the bearing of our knights", "Tells of a manhood ever less and lower?", "Or whence the fear lest this my realm, upreared,", "By noble deeds at one with noble vows,", "From flat confusion and brute violences,", "Reel back into the beast, and be no more?'", "", "He spoke, and taking all his younger knights,", "Down the slope city rode, and sharply turned", "North by the gate. In her high bower the Queen,", "Working a tapestry, lifted up her head,", "Watched her lord pass, and knew not that she sighed.", "Then ran across her memory the strange rhyme", "Of bygone Merlin, `Where is he who knows?", "From the great deep to the great deep he goes.'", "", "But when the morning of a tournament,", "By these in earnest those in mockery called", "The Tournament of the Dead Innocence,", "Brake with a wet wind blowing, Lancelot,", "Round whose sick head all night, like birds of prey,", "The words of Arthur flying shrieked, arose,", "And down a streetway hung with folds of pure", "White samite, and by fountains running wine,", "Where children sat in white with cups of gold,", "Moved to the lists, and there, with slow sad steps", "Ascending, filled his double-dragoned chair.", "", "He glanced and saw the stately galleries,", "Dame, damsel, each through worship of their Queen", "White-robed in honour of the stainless child,", "And some with scattered jewels, like a bank", "Of maiden snow mingled with sparks of fire.", "He looked but once, and vailed his eyes again.", "", "The sudden trumpet sounded as in a dream", "To ears but half-awaked, then one low roll", "Of Autumn thunder, and the jousts began:", "And ever the wind blew, and yellowing leaf", "And gloom and gleam, and shower and shorn plume", "Went down it. Sighing weariedly, as one", "Who sits and gazes on a faded fire,", "When all the goodlier guests are past away,", "Sat their great umpire, looking o'er the lists.", "He saw the laws that ruled the tournament", "Broken, but spake not; once, a knight cast down", "Before his throne of arbitration cursed", "The dead babe and the follies of the King;", "And once the laces of a helmet cracked,", "And showed him, like a vermin in its hole,", "Modred, a narrow face: anon he heard", "The voice that billowed round the barriers roar", "An ocean-sounding welcome to one knight,", "But newly-entered, taller than the rest,", "And armoured all in forest green, whereon", "There tript a hundred tiny silver deer,", "And wearing but a holly-spray for crest,", "With ever-scattering berries, and on shield", "A spear, a harp, a bugle--Tristram--late", "From overseas in Brittany returned,", "And marriage with a princess of that realm,", "Isolt the White--Sir Tristram of the Woods--", "Whom Lancelot knew, had held sometime with pain", "His own against him, and now yearned to shake", "The burthen off his heart in one full shock", "With Tristram even to death: his strong hands gript", "And dinted the gilt dragons right and left,", "Until he groaned for wrath--so many of those,", "That ware their ladies' colours on the casque,", "Drew from before Sir Tristram to the bounds,", "And there with gibes and flickering mockeries", "Stood, while he muttered, `Craven crests! O shame!", "What faith have these in whom they sware to love?", "The glory of our Round Table is no more.'", "", "So Tristram won, and Lancelot gave, the gems,", "Not speaking other word than `Hast thou won?", "Art thou the purest, brother? See, the hand", "Wherewith thou takest this, is red!' to whom", "Tristram, half plagued by Lancelot's languorous mood,", "Made answer, `Ay, but wherefore toss me this", "Like a dry bone cast to some hungry hound?", "Lest be thy fair Queen's fantasy. Strength of heart", "And might of limb, but mainly use and skill,", "Are winners in this pastime of our King.", "My hand--belike the lance hath dript upon it--", "No blood of mine, I trow; but O chief knight,", "Right arm of Arthur in the battlefield,", "Great brother, thou nor I have made the world;", "Be happy in thy fair Queen as I in mine.'", "", "And Tristram round the gallery made his horse", "Caracole; then bowed his homage, bluntly saying,", "`Fair damsels, each to him who worships each", "Sole Queen of Beauty and of love, behold", "This day my Queen of Beauty is not here.'", "And most of these were mute, some angered, one", "Murmuring, `All courtesy is dead,' and one,", "`The glory of our Round Table is no more.'", "", "Then fell thick rain, plume droopt and mantle clung,", "And pettish cries awoke, and the wan day", "Went glooming down in wet and weariness:", "But under her black brows a swarthy one", "Laughed shrilly, crying, `Praise the patient saints,", "Our one white day of Innocence hath past,", "Though somewhat draggled at the skirt. So be it.", "The snowdrop only, flowering through the year,", "Would make the world as blank as Winter-tide.", "Come--let us gladden their sad eyes, our Queen's", "And Lancelot's, at this night's solemnity", "With all the kindlier colours of the field.'", "", "So dame and damsel glittered at the feast", "Variously gay: for he that tells the tale", "Likened them, saying, as when an hour of cold", "Falls on the mountain in midsummer snows,", "And all the purple slopes of mountain flowers", "Pass under white, till the warm hour returns", "With veer of wind, and all are flowers again;", "So dame and damsel cast the simple white,", "And glowing in all colours, the live grass,", "Rose-campion, bluebell, kingcup, poppy, glanced", "About the revels, and with mirth so loud", "Beyond all use, that, half-amazed, the Queen,", "And wroth at Tristram and the lawless jousts,", "Brake up their sports, then slowly to her bower", "Parted, and in her bosom pain was lord.", "", "And little Dagonet on the morrow morn,", "High over all the yellowing Autumn-tide,", "Danced like a withered leaf before the hall.", "Then Tristram saying, `Why skip ye so, Sir Fool?'", "Wheeled round on either heel, Dagonet replied,", "`Belike for lack of wiser company;", "Or being fool, and seeing too much wit", "Makes the world rotten, why, belike I skip", "To know myself the wisest knight of all.'", "`Ay, fool,' said Tristram, `but 'tis eating dry", "To dance without a catch, a roundelay", "To dance to.' Then he twangled on his harp,", "And while he twangled little Dagonet stood", "Quiet as any water-sodden log", "Stayed in the wandering warble of a brook;", "But when the twangling ended, skipt again;", "And being asked, `Why skipt ye not, Sir Fool?'", "Made answer, `I had liefer twenty years", "Skip to the broken music of my brains", "Than any broken music thou canst make.'", "Then Tristram, waiting for the quip to come,", "`Good now, what music have I broken, fool?'", "And little Dagonet, skipping, `Arthur, the King's;", "For when thou playest that air with Queen Isolt,", "Thou makest broken music with thy bride,", "Her daintier namesake down in Brittany--", "And so thou breakest Arthur's music too.'", "`Save for that broken music in thy brains,", "Sir Fool,' said Tristram, `I would break thy head.", "Fool, I came too late, the heathen wars were o'er,", "The life had flown, we sware but by the shell--", "I am but a fool to reason with a fool--", "Come, thou art crabbed and sour: but lean me down,", "Sir Dagonet, one of thy long asses' ears,", "And harken if my music be not true.", "", "`\"Free love--free field--we love but while we may:", "The woods are hushed, their music is no more:", "The leaf is dead, the yearning past away:", "New leaf, new life--the days of frost are o'er:", "New life, new love, to suit the newer day:", "New loves are sweet as those that went before:", "Free love--free field--we love but while we may.\"", "", "`Ye might have moved slow-measure to my tune,", "Not stood stockstill. I made it in the woods,", "And heard it ring as true as tested gold.'", "", "But Dagonet with one foot poised in his hand,", "`Friend, did ye mark that fountain yesterday", "Made to run wine?--but this had run itself", "All out like a long life to a sour end--", "And them that round it sat with golden cups", "To hand the wine to whosoever came--", "The twelve small damosels white as Innocence,", "In honour of poor Innocence the babe,", "Who left the gems which Innocence the Queen", "Lent to the King, and Innocence the King", "Gave for a prize--and one of those white slips", "Handed her cup and piped, the pretty one,", "\"Drink, drink, Sir Fool,\" and thereupon I drank,", "Spat--pish--the cup was gold, the draught was mud.'", "", "And Tristram, `Was it muddier than thy gibes?", "Is all the laughter gone dead out of thee?--", "Not marking how the knighthood mock thee, fool--", "\"Fear God: honour the King--his one true knight--", "Sole follower of the vows\"--for here be they", "Who knew thee swine enow before I came,", "Smuttier than blasted grain: but when the King", "Had made thee fool, thy vanity so shot up", "It frighted all free fool from out thy heart;", "Which left thee less than fool, and less than swine,", "A naked aught--yet swine I hold thee still,", "For I have flung thee pearls and find thee swine.'", "", "And little Dagonet mincing with his feet,", "`Knight, an ye fling those rubies round my neck", "In lieu of hers, I'll hold thou hast some touch", "Of music, since I care not for thy pearls.", "Swine? I have wallowed, I have washed--the world", "Is flesh and shadow--I have had my day.", "The dirty nurse, Experience, in her kind", "Hath fouled me--an I wallowed, then I washed--", "I have had my day and my philosophies--", "And thank the Lord I am King Arthur's fool.", "Swine, say ye? swine, goats, asses, rams and geese", "Trooped round a Paynim harper once, who thrummed", "On such a wire as musically as thou", "Some such fine song--but never a king's fool.'", "", "And Tristram, `Then were swine, goats, asses, geese", "The wiser fools, seeing thy Paynim bard", "Had such a mastery of his mystery", "That he could harp his wife up out of hell.'", "", "Then Dagonet, turning on the ball of his foot,", "`And whither harp'st thou thine? down! and thyself", "Down! and two more: a helpful harper thou,", "That harpest downward! Dost thou know the star", "We call the harp of Arthur up in heaven?'", "", "And Tristram, `Ay, Sir Fool, for when our King", "Was victor wellnigh day by day, the knights,", "Glorying in each new glory, set his name", "High on all hills, and in the signs of heaven.'", "", "And Dagonet answered, `Ay, and when the land", "Was freed, and the Queen false, ye set yourself", "To babble about him, all to show your wit--", "And whether he were King by courtesy,", "Or King by right--and so went harping down", "The black king's highway, got so far, and grew", "So witty that ye played at ducks and drakes", "With Arthur's vows on the great lake of fire.", "Tuwhoo! do ye see it? do ye see the star?'", "", "`Nay, fool,' said Tristram, `not in open day.'", "And Dagonet, `Nay, nor will: I see it and hear.", "It makes a silent music up in heaven,", "And I, and Arthur and the angels hear,", "And then we skip.' `Lo, fool,' he said, `ye talk", "Fool's treason: is the King thy brother fool?'", "Then little Dagonet clapt his hands and shrilled,", "`Ay, ay, my brother fool, the king of fools!", "Conceits himself as God that he can make", "Figs out of thistles, silk from bristles, milk", "From burning spurge, honey from hornet-combs,", "And men from beasts--Long live the king of fools!'", "", "And down the city Dagonet danced away;", "But through the slowly-mellowing avenues", "And solitary passes of the wood", "Rode Tristram toward Lyonnesse and the west.", "Before him fled the face of Queen Isolt", "With ruby-circled neck, but evermore", "Past, as a rustle or twitter in the wood", "Made dull his inner, keen his outer eye", "For all that walked, or crept, or perched, or flew.", "Anon the face, as, when a gust hath blown,", "Unruffling waters re-collect the shape", "Of one that in them sees himself, returned;", "But at the slot or fewmets of a deer,", "Or even a fallen feather, vanished again.", "", "So on for all that day from lawn to lawn", "Through many a league-long bower he rode. At length", "A lodge of intertwisted beechen-boughs", "Furze-crammed, and bracken-rooft, the which himself", "Built for a summer day with Queen Isolt", "Against a shower, dark in the golden grove", "Appearing, sent his fancy back to where", "She lived a moon in that low lodge with him:", "Till Mark her lord had past, the Cornish King,", "With six or seven, when Tristram was away,", "And snatched her thence; yet dreading worse than shame", "Her warrior Tristram, spake not any word,", "But bode his hour, devising wretchedness.", "", "And now that desert lodge to Tristram lookt", "So sweet, that halting, in he past, and sank", "Down on a drift of foliage random-blown;", "But could not rest for musing how to smoothe", "And sleek his marriage over to the Queen.", "Perchance in lone Tintagil far from all", "The tonguesters of the court she had not heard.", "But then what folly had sent him overseas", "After she left him lonely here? a name?", "Was it the name of one in Brittany,", "Isolt, the daughter of the King? `Isolt", "Of the white hands' they called her: the sweet name", "Allured him first, and then the maid herself,", "Who served him well with those white hands of hers,", "And loved him well, until himself had thought", "He loved her also, wedded easily,", "But left her all as easily, and returned.", "The black-blue Irish hair and Irish eyes", "Had drawn him home--what marvel? then he laid", "His brows upon the drifted leaf and dreamed.", "", "He seemed to pace the strand of Brittany", "Between Isolt of Britain and his bride,", "And showed them both the ruby-chain, and both", "Began to struggle for it, till his Queen", "Graspt it so hard, that all her hand was red.", "Then cried the Breton, `Look, her hand is red!", "These be no rubies, this is frozen blood,", "And melts within her hand--her hand is hot", "With ill desires, but this I gave thee, look,", "Is all as cool and white as any flower.'", "Followed a rush of eagle's wings, and then", "A whimpering of the spirit of the child,", "Because the twain had spoiled her carcanet.", "", "He dreamed; but Arthur with a hundred spears", "Rode far, till o'er the illimitable reed,", "And many a glancing plash and sallowy isle,", "The wide-winged sunset of the misty marsh", "Glared on a huge machicolated tower", "That stood with open doors, whereout was rolled", "A roar of riot, as from men secure", "Amid their marshes, ruffians at their ease", "Among their harlot-brides, an evil song.", "`Lo there,' said one of Arthur's youth, for there,", "High on a grim dead tree before the tower,", "A goodly brother of the Table Round", "Swung by the neck: and on the boughs a shield", "Showing a shower of blood in a field noir,", "And therebeside a horn, inflamed the knights", "At that dishonour done the gilded spur,", "Till each would clash the shield, and blow the horn.", "But Arthur waved them back. Alone he rode.", "Then at the dry harsh roar of the great horn,", "That sent the face of all the marsh aloft", "An ever upward-rushing storm and cloud", "Of shriek and plume, the Red Knight heard, and all,", "Even to tipmost lance and topmost helm,", "In blood-red armour sallying, howled to the King,", "", "`The teeth of Hell flay bare and gnash thee flat!--", "Lo! art thou not that eunuch-hearted King", "Who fain had clipt free manhood from the world--", "The woman-worshipper? Yea, God's curse, and I!", "Slain was the brother of my paramour", "By a knight of thine, and I that heard her whine", "And snivel, being eunuch-hearted too,", "Sware by the scorpion-worm that twists in hell,", "And stings itself to everlasting death,", "To hang whatever knight of thine I fought", "And tumbled. Art thou King? --Look to thy life!'", "", "He ended: Arthur knew the voice; the face", "Wellnigh was helmet-hidden, and the name", "Went wandering somewhere darkling in his mind.", "And Arthur deigned not use of word or sword,", "But let the drunkard, as he stretched from horse", "To strike him, overbalancing his bulk,", "Down from the causeway heavily to the swamp", "Fall, as the crest of some slow-arching wave,", "Heard in dead night along that table-shore,", "Drops flat, and after the great waters break", "Whitening for half a league, and thin themselves,", "Far over sands marbled with moon and cloud,", "From less and less to nothing; thus he fell", "Head-heavy; then the knights, who watched him, roared", "And shouted and leapt down upon the fallen;", "There trampled out his face from being known,", "And sank his head in mire, and slimed themselves:", "Nor heard the King for their own cries, but sprang", "Through open doors, and swording right and left", "Men, women, on their sodden faces, hurled", "The tables over and the wines, and slew", "Till all the rafters rang with woman-yells,", "And all the pavement streamed with massacre:", "Then, echoing yell with yell, they fired the tower,", "Which half that autumn night, like the live North,", "Red-pulsing up through Alioth and Alcor,", "Made all above it, and a hundred meres", "About it, as the water Moab saw", "Came round by the East, and out beyond them flushed", "The long low dune, and lazy-plunging sea.", "", "So all the ways were safe from shore to shore,", "But in the heart of Arthur pain was lord.", "", "Then, out of Tristram waking, the red dream", "Fled with a shout, and that low lodge returned,", "Mid-forest, and the wind among the boughs.", "He whistled his good warhorse left to graze", "Among the forest greens, vaulted upon him,", "And rode beneath an ever-showering leaf,", "Till one lone woman, weeping near a cross,", "Stayed him. `Why weep ye?' `Lord,' she said, `my man", "Hath left me or is dead;' whereon he thought--", "`What, if she hate me now? I would not this.", "What, if she love me still? I would not that.", "I know not what I would'--but said to her,", "`Yet weep not thou, lest, if thy mate return,", "He find thy favour changed and love thee not'--", "Then pressing day by day through Lyonnesse", "Last in a roky hollow, belling, heard", "The hounds of Mark, and felt the goodly hounds", "Yelp at his heart, but turning, past and gained", "Tintagil, half in sea, and high on land,", "A crown of towers.", "", "Down in a casement sat,", "A low sea-sunset glorying round her hair", "And glossy-throated grace, Isolt the Queen.", "And when she heard the feet of Tristram grind", "The spiring stone that scaled about her tower,", "Flushed, started, met him at the doors, and there", "Belted his body with her white embrace,", "Crying aloud, `Not Mark--not Mark, my soul!", "The footstep fluttered me at first: not he:", "Catlike through his own castle steals my Mark,", "But warrior-wise thou stridest through his halls", "Who hates thee, as I him--even to the death.", "My soul, I felt my hatred for my Mark", "Quicken within me, and knew that thou wert nigh.'", "To whom Sir Tristram smiling, `I am here.", "Let be thy Mark, seeing he is not thine.'", "", "And drawing somewhat backward she replied,", "`Can he be wronged who is not even his own,", "But save for dread of thee had beaten me,", "Scratched, bitten, blinded, marred me somehow--Mark?", "What rights are his that dare not strike for them?", "Not lift a hand--not, though he found me thus!", "But harken! have ye met him? hence he went", "Today for three days' hunting--as he said--", "And so returns belike within an hour.", "Mark's way, my soul!--but eat not thou with Mark,", "Because he hates thee even more than fears;", "Nor drink: and when thou passest any wood", "Close vizor, lest an arrow from the bush", "Should leave me all alone with Mark and hell.", "My God, the measure of my hate for Mark", "Is as the measure of my love for thee.'", "", "So, plucked one way by hate and one by love,", "Drained of her force, again she sat, and spake", "To Tristram, as he knelt before her, saying,", "`O hunter, and O blower of the horn,", "Harper, and thou hast been a rover too,", "For, ere I mated with my shambling king,", "Ye twain had fallen out about the bride", "Of one--his name is out of me--the prize,", "If prize she were--(what marvel--she could see)--", "Thine, friend; and ever since my craven seeks", "To wreck thee villainously: but, O Sir Knight,", "What dame or damsel have ye kneeled to last?'", "", "And Tristram, `Last to my Queen Paramount,", "Here now to my Queen Paramount of love", "And loveliness--ay, lovelier than when first", "Her light feet fell on our rough Lyonnesse,", "Sailing from Ireland.'", "", "Softly laughed Isolt;", "`Flatter me not, for hath not our great Queen", "My dole of beauty trebled?' and he said,", "`Her beauty is her beauty, and thine thine,", "And thine is more to me--soft, gracious, kind--", "Save when thy Mark is kindled on thy lips", "Most gracious; but she, haughty, even to him,", "Lancelot; for I have seen him wan enow", "To make one doubt if ever the great Queen", "Have yielded him her love.'", "", "To whom Isolt,", "`Ah then, false hunter and false harper, thou", "Who brakest through the scruple of my bond,", "Calling me thy white hind, and saying to me", "That Guinevere had sinned against the highest,", "And I--misyoked with such a want of man--", "That I could hardly sin against the lowest.'", "", "He answered, `O my soul, be comforted!", "If this be sweet, to sin in leading-strings,", "If here be comfort, and if ours be sin,", "Crowned warrant had we for the crowning sin", "That made us happy: but how ye greet me--fear", "And fault and doubt--no word of that fond tale--", "Thy deep heart-yearnings, thy sweet memories", "Of Tristram in that year he was away.'", "", "And, saddening on the sudden, spake Isolt,", "`I had forgotten all in my strong joy", "To see thee--yearnings?--ay! for, hour by hour,", "Here in the never-ended afternoon,", "O sweeter than all memories of thee,", "Deeper than any yearnings after thee", "Seemed those far-rolling, westward-smiling seas,", "Watched from this tower. Isolt of Britain dashed", "Before Isolt of Brittany on the strand,", "Would that have chilled her bride-kiss? Wedded her?", "Fought in her father's battles? wounded there?", "The King was all fulfilled with gratefulness,", "And she, my namesake of the hands, that healed", "Thy hurt and heart with unguent and caress--", "Well--can I wish her any huger wrong", "Than having known thee? her too hast thou left", "To pine and waste in those sweet memories.", "O were I not my Mark's, by whom all men", "Are noble, I should hate thee more than love.'", "", "And Tristram, fondling her light hands, replied,", "`Grace, Queen, for being loved: she loved me well.", "Did I love her? the name at least I loved.", "Isolt?--I fought his battles, for Isolt!", "The night was dark; the true star set. Isolt!", "The name was ruler of the dark--Isolt?", "Care not for her! patient, and prayerful, meek,", "Pale-blooded, she will yield herself to God.'", "", "And Isolt answered, `Yea, and why not I?", "Mine is the larger need, who am not meek,", "Pale-blooded, prayerful. Let me tell thee now.", "Here one black, mute midsummer night I sat,", "Lonely, but musing on thee, wondering where,", "Murmuring a light song I had heard thee sing,", "And once or twice I spake thy name aloud.", "Then flashed a levin-brand; and near me stood,", "In fuming sulphur blue and green, a fiend--", "Mark's way to steal behind one in the dark--", "For there was Mark: \"He has wedded her,\" he said,", "Not said, but hissed it: then this crown of towers", "So shook to such a roar of all the sky,", "That here in utter dark I swooned away,", "And woke again in utter dark, and cried,", "\"I will flee hence and give myself to God\"--", "And thou wert lying in thy new leman's arms.'", "", "Then Tristram, ever dallying with her hand,", "`May God be with thee, sweet, when old and gray,", "And past desire!' a saying that angered her.", "`\"May God be with thee, sweet, when thou art old,", "And sweet no more to me!\" I need Him now.", "For when had Lancelot uttered aught so gross", "Even to the swineherd's malkin in the mast?", "The greater man, the greater courtesy.", "Far other was the Tristram, Arthur's knight!", "But thou, through ever harrying thy wild beasts--", "Save that to touch a harp, tilt with a lance", "Becomes thee well--art grown wild beast thyself.", "How darest thou, if lover, push me even", "In fancy from thy side, and set me far", "In the gray distance, half a life away,", "Her to be loved no more? Unsay it, unswear!", "Flatter me rather, seeing me so weak,", "Broken with Mark and hate and solitude,", "Thy marriage and mine own, that I should suck", "Lies like sweet wines: lie to me: I believe.", "Will ye not lie? not swear, as there ye kneel,", "And solemnly as when ye sware to him,", "The man of men, our King--My God, the power", "Was once in vows when men believed the King!", "They lied not then, who sware, and through their vows", "The King prevailing made his realm:--I say,", "Swear to me thou wilt love me even when old,", "Gray-haired, and past desire, and in despair.'", "", "Then Tristram, pacing moodily up and down,", "`Vows! did you keep the vow you made to Mark", "More than I mine? Lied, say ye? Nay, but learnt,", "The vow that binds too strictly snaps itself--", "My knighthood taught me this--ay, being snapt--", "We run more counter to the soul thereof", "Than had we never sworn. I swear no more.", "I swore to the great King, and am forsworn.", "For once--even to the height--I honoured him.", "\"Man, is he man at all?\" methought, when first", "I rode from our rough Lyonnesse, and beheld", "That victor of the Pagan throned in hall--", "His hair, a sun that rayed from off a brow", "Like hillsnow high in heaven, the steel-blue eyes,", "The golden beard that clothed his lips with light--", "Moreover, that weird legend of his birth,", "With Merlin's mystic babble about his end", "Amazed me; then, his foot was on a stool", "Shaped as a dragon; he seemed to me no man,", "But Micha l trampling Satan; so I sware,", "Being amazed: but this went by-- The vows!", "O ay--the wholesome madness of an hour--", "They served their use, their time; for every knight", "Believed himself a greater than himself,", "And every follower eyed him as a God;", "Till he, being lifted up beyond himself,", "Did mightier deeds than elsewise he had done,", "And so the realm was made; but then their vows--", "First mainly through that sullying of our Queen--", "Began to gall the knighthood, asking whence", "Had Arthur right to bind them to himself?", "Dropt down from heaven? washed up from out the deep?", "They failed to trace him through the flesh and blood", "Of our old kings: whence then? a doubtful lord", "To bind them by inviolable vows,", "Which flesh and blood perforce would violate:", "For feel this arm of mine--the tide within", "Red with free chase and heather-scented air,", "Pulsing full man; can Arthur make me pure", "As any maiden child? lock up my tongue", "From uttering freely what I freely hear?", "Bind me to one? The wide world laughs at it.", "And worldling of the world am I, and know", "The ptarmigan that whitens ere his hour", "Woos his own end; we are not angels here", "Nor shall be: vows--I am woodman of the woods,", "And hear the garnet-headed yaffingale", "Mock them: my soul, we love but while we may;", "And therefore is my love so large for thee,", "Seeing it is not bounded save by love.'", "", "Here ending, he moved toward her, and she said,", "`Good: an I turned away my love for thee", "To some one thrice as courteous as thyself--", "For courtesy wins woman all as well", "As valour may, but he that closes both", "Is perfect, he is Lancelot--taller indeed,", "Rosier and comelier, thou--but say I loved", "This knightliest of all knights, and cast thee back", "Thine own small saw, \"We love but while we may,\"", "Well then, what answer?'", "", "He that while she spake,", "Mindful of what he brought to adorn her with,", "The jewels, had let one finger lightly touch", "The warm white apple of her throat, replied,", "`Press this a little closer, sweet, until--", "Come, I am hungered and half-angered--meat,", "Wine, wine--and I will love thee to the death,", "And out beyond into the dream to come.'", "", "So then, when both were brought to full accord,", "She rose, and set before him all he willed;", "And after these had comforted the blood", "With meats and wines, and satiated their hearts--", "Now talking of their woodland paradise,", "The deer, the dews, the fern, the founts, the lawns;", "Now mocking at the much ungainliness,", "And craven shifts, and long crane legs of Mark--", "Then Tristram laughing caught the harp, and sang:", "", "`Ay, ay, O ay--the winds that bend the brier!", "A star in heaven, a star within the mere!", "Ay, ay, O ay--a star was my desire,", "And one was far apart, and one was near:", "Ay, ay, O ay--the winds that bow the grass!", "And one was water and one star was fire,", "And one will ever shine and one will pass.", "Ay, ay, O ay--the winds that move the mere.'", "", "Then in the light's last glimmer Tristram showed", "And swung the ruby carcanet. She cried,", "`The collar of some Order, which our King", "Hath newly founded, all for thee, my soul,", "For thee, to yield thee grace beyond thy peers.'", "", "`Not so, my Queen,' he said, `but the red fruit", "Grown on a magic oak-tree in mid-heaven,", "And won by Tristram as a tourney-prize,", "And hither brought by Tristram for his last", "Love-offering and peace-offering unto thee.'", "", "He spoke, he turned, then, flinging round her neck,", "Claspt it, and cried, `Thine Order, O my Queen!'", "But, while he bowed to kiss the jewelled throat,", "Out of the dark, just as the lips had touched,", "Behind him rose a shadow and a shriek--", "`Mark's way,' said Mark, and clove him through the brain.", "", "That night came Arthur home, and while he climbed,", "All in a death-dumb autumn-dripping gloom,", "The stairway to the hall, and looked and saw", "The great Queen's bower was dark,--about his feet", "A voice clung sobbing till he questioned it,", "`What art thou?' and the voice about his feet", "Sent up an answer, sobbing, `I am thy fool,", "And I shall never make thee smile again.'" ], "linecount": "760" }, { "title": "Idylls of the King: The Last Tournament (excerpt)", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Dagonet, the fool, whom Gawain in his mood", "Had made mock-knight of Arthur's Table Round,", "At Camelot, high above the yellowing woods,", "Danced like a wither'd leaf before the hall.", "And toward him from the hall, with harp in hand,", "And from the crown thereof a carcanet", "Of ruby swaying to and fro, the prize", "Of Tristram in the jousts of yesterday,", "Came Tristram, saying, \"Why skip ye so, Sir Fool?\"", "", "For Arthur and Sir Lancelot riding once", "Far down beneath a winding wall of rock", "Heard a child wail. A stump of oak half-dead.", "From roots like some black coil of carven snakes,", "Clutch'd at the crag, and started thro' mid air", "Bearing an eagle's nest: and thro' the tree", "Rush'd ever a rainy wind, and thro' the wind", "Pierced ever a child's cry: and crag and tree", "Scaling, Sir Lancelot from the perilous nest,", "This ruby necklace thrice around her neck,", "And all unscarr'd from beak or talon, brought", "A maiden babe; which Arthur pitying took,", "Then gave it to his Queen to rear: the Queen", "But coldly acquiescing, in her white arms", "Received, and after loved it tenderly,", "And named it Nestling; so forgot herself", "A moment, and her cares; till that young life", "Being smitten in mid heaven with mortal cold", "Past from her; and in time the carcanet", "Vext her with plaintive memories of the child:", "So she, delivering it to Arthur, said,", "\"Take thou the jewels of this dead innocence,", "And make them, an thou wilt, a tourney-prize.\"", "", "To whom the King, \"Peace to thine eagle-borne", "Dead nestling, and this honour after death,", "Following thy will! but, O my Queen, I muse", "Why ye not wear on arm, or neck, or zone", "Those diamonds that I rescued from the tarn,", "And Lancelot won, methought, for thee to wear.\"", "", "\"Would rather you had let them fall,\" she cried,", "\"Plunge and be lost--ill-fated as they were,", "A bitterness to me!--ye look amazed,", "Not knowing they were lost as soon as given--", "Slid from my hands, when I was leaning out", "Above the river--that unhappy child", "Past in her barge: but rosier luck will go", "With these rich jewels, seeing that they came", "Not from the skeleton of a brother-slayer,", "But the sweet body of a maiden babe.", "Perchance--who knows?--the purest of thy knights", "May win them for the purest of my maids.\"", "", "She ended, and the cry of a great jousts", "With trumpet-blowings ran on all the ways", "From Camelot in among the faded fields", "To furthest towers; and everywhere the knights", "Arm'd for a day of glory before the King.", "", "But on the hither side of that loud morn", "Into the hall stagger'd, his visage ribb'd", "From ear to ear with dogwhip-weals, his nose", "Bridge-broken, one eye out, and one hand off,", "And one with shatter'd fingers dangling lame,", "A churl, to whom indignantly the King,", "", "\"My churl, for whom Christ died, what evil beast", "Hath drawn his claws athwart thy face? or fiend?", "Man was it who marr'd heaven's image in thee thus?\"", "", "Then, sputtering thro' the hedge of splinter'd teeth,", "Yet strangers to the tongue, and with blunt stump", "Pitch-blacken'd sawing the air, said the maim'd churl,", "", "\"He took them and he drave them to his tower--", "Some hold he was a table-knight of thine--", "A hundred goodly ones--the Red Knight, he--", "Lord, I was tending swine, and the Red Knight", "Brake in upon me and drave them to his tower;", "And when I cal'd upon thy name as one", "That doest right by gentle and by churl,", "Maim'd me and maul'd, and would outright have slain,", "Save that he aware me to a message, saying,", "'Tell thou the King and all his liars, that I", "Have founded my Round Table in the North,", "And whatsoever his own knights have sworn", "My knights have sworn the counter to it--and say", "My tower is full of harlots, like his court,", "But mine are worthier, seeing they profess", "To be none other than themselves--and say", "My knights are all adulterers like his own,", "But mine are truer, seeing they profess", "To be none other; and say his hour is come,", "The heathen are upon him, his long lance", "Broken, and his Excalibur a straw.' \"", "", "Then Arthur turn'd to Kay the seneschal,", "\"Take thou my churl, and tend him curiously", "Like a king's heir, till all his hurts be whole.", "The heathen--but that ever-climbing wave,", "Hurl'd back again so often in empty foam,", "Hath lain for years at rest--and renegades,", "Thieves, bandits, leavings of confusion, whom", "The wholesome realm is purged of otherwhere,", "Friends, thro' your manhood and your fealty,--now", "Make their last head like Satan in the North.", "My younger knights, new-made, in whom your flower", "Waits to be solid fruit of golden deeds,", "Move with me toward their quelling, which achieved,", "The loneliest ways are safe from shore to shore.", "But thou, Sir Lancelot, sitting in my place", "Enchair'd to-morrow, arbitrate the field;", "For wherefore shouldst thou care to mingle with it", "Only to yield my Queen her own again?", "Speak, Lancelot, thou art silent: is it well?\"", "", "", "Thereto Sir Lancelot answer'd, \"It is well:", "Yet better if the King abide, and leave", "The leading of his younger knights to me.", "Else, for the King has will'd it, it is well.\"", "", "", "Then Arthur rose and Lancelot follow'd him,", "And while they stood without the doors, the King", "Turn'd to him saying, \"Is it then so well?", "Or mine the blame that oft I seem as he", "Of whom was written, 'A sound is in his ears'?", "The foot that loiters, bidden go,--the glance", "That only seems half-loyal to command,--", "A manner somewhat fall'n from reverence--", "Or have I dream'd the bearing of our knights", "Tells of a manhood ever less and lower?", "Or whence the fear lest this my realm, uprear'd,", "By noble deeds at one with noble vows,", "From flat confusion and brute violence,s", "Reel back into the beast, and be no more?\"", "", "", "He spoke, and taking all his younger knights,", "Down the slope city rode, and sharply turn'd", "North by the gate. In her high bower the Queen,", "Working a tapestry, lifted up her head,", "Watch'd her lord pass, and knew not that she sigh'd.", "Then ran across her memory the strange rhyme", "Of bygone Merlin, \"Where is he who knows?", "From the great deep to the great deep he goes.\"", "", "", "But when the morning of a tournament,", "By these in earnest those in mockery call'd", "The Tournament of the Dead Innocence,", "Brake with a wet wind blowing, Lancelot,", "Round whose sick head all night, like birds of prey,", "The words of Arthur flying shriek'd, arose,", "And down a streetway hung with folds of pure", "White samite, and by fountains running wine,", "Where children sat in white with cups of gold,", "Moved to the lists, and there, with slow sad steps", "Ascending, fill'd his double-dragon'd chair.", "", "", "He glanced and saw the stately galleries,", "Dame, damsel, each thro' worship of their Queen", "White-robed in honour of the stainless child,", "And some with scatter'd jewels, like a bank", "Of maiden snow mingled with sparks of fire.", "He look'd but once, and vail'd his eyes again.", "", "", "The sudden trumpet sounded as in a dream", "To ears but half-awaked, then one low roll", "Of Autumn thunder, and the jousts began:", "And ever the wind blew, and yellowing leaf", "And gloom and gleam, and shower and shorn plume", "Went down it. Sighing weariedly, as one", "Who sits and gazes on a faded fire,", "When all the goodlier guests are past away,", "Sat their great umpire, looking o'er the lists.", "He saw the laws that ruled the tournament", "Broken, but spake not; once, a knight cast down", "Before his throne of arbitration cursed", "The dead babe and the follies of the King;", "And once the laces of a helmet crack'd,", "And show'd him, like a vermin in its hole,", "Modred, a narrow face: anon he heard", "The voice that billow'd round the barriers roar", "An ocean-sounding welcome to one knight,", "But newly-enter'd, taller than the rest,", "And armour'd all in forest green, whereon", "There tript a hundred tiny silver deer,", "And wearing but a holly-spray for crest,", "With ever-scattering berries, and on shield", "A spear, a harp, a bugle--Tristram--late", "From overseas in Brittany return'd,", "And marriage with a princess of that realm,", "Isolt the White--Sir Tristram of the Woods--", "Whom Lancelot knew, had held sometime with pain", "His own against him, and now yearn'd to shake", "The burthen off his heart in one full shock", "With Tristram ev'n to death: his strong hands gript", "And dinted the gilt dragons right and left,", "Until he groan'd for wrath--so many of those,", "That ware their ladies' colours on the casque,", "Drew from before Sir Tristram to the bounds,", "And there with gibes and flickering mockeries", "Stood, while he mutter'd, \"Craven crests! O shame!", "What faith have these in whom they sware to love?", "The glory of our Round Table is no more.\"", "", "", "So Tristram won, and Lancelot gave, the gems,", "Not speaking other word than \"Hast thou won?", "Art thou the purest, brother? See, the hand", "Wherewith thou takest this, is red!\" to whom", "Tristram, half plagued by Lancelot's languorous mood,", "Made answer, \"Ay, but wherefore toss me this", "Like a dry bone cast to some hungry hound?", "Let be thy fair Queen's fantasy. Strength of heart", "And might of limb, but mainly use and skill,", "Are winners in this pastime of our King.", "My hand--belike the lance hath dript upon it--", "No blood of mine, I trow; but O chief knight,", "Right arm of Arthur in the battlefield,", "Great brother, thou nor I have made the world;", "Be happy in thy fair Queen as I in mine.\"", "", "", "And Tristram round the gallery made his horse", "Caracole; then bow'd his homage, bluntly saying,", "\"Fair damsels, each to him who worships each", "Sole Queen of Beauty and of love, behold", "This day my Queen of Beauty is not here.\"", "And most of these were mute, some anger'd, one", "Murmuring, \"All courtesy is dead,\" and one", "\"The glory of our Round Table is no more.\"", "", "", "Then fell thick rain, plume droopt and mantle clung,", "And pettish cries awoke, and the wan day", "Went glooming down in wet and weariness:", "But under her black brows a swarthy one", "Laugh'd shrilly, crying, \"Praise the patient saints,", "Our one white day of Innocence hath past,", "Tho' somewhat draggled at the skirt. So be it.", "The snowdrop only, flowering thro' the year,", "Would make the world as blank as Winter-tide.", "Come--let us gladden their sad eyes, our Queen's", "And Lancelot's, at this night's solemnity", "With all the kindlier colours of the field.\"", "", "", "So dame and damsel glitter'd at the feast", "Variously gay: for he that tells the tale", "Liken'd them, saying, as when an hour of cold", "Falls on the mountain in midsummer snows,", "And all the purple slopes of mountain flowers", "Pass under white, till the warm hour returns", "With veer of wind, and all are flowers again;", "So dame and damsel cast the simple white,", "And glowing in all colours, the live grass,", "Rose-campion, bluebell, kingcup, poppy, glanced", "About the revels, and with mirth so loud", "Beyond all use, that, half-amazed, the Queen,", "And wroth at Tristram and the lawless jousts,", "Brake up their sports, then slowly to her bower", "Parted, and in her bosom pain was lord.", "", "", "And little Dagonet on the morrow morn,", "High over all the yellowing Autumn-tide,", "Danced like a wither'd leaf before the hall.", "Then Tristram saying, \"Why skip ye so, Sir Fool?\"", "Wheel'd round on either heel, Dagonet replied,", "\"Belike for lack of wiser company;", "Or being fool, and seeing too much wit", "Makes the world rotten, why, belike I skip", "To know myself the wisest knight of all.\"", "\"Ay, fool,\" said Tristram, \"but 'tis eating dry", "To dance without a catch, a roundelay", "To dance to.\" Then he twangled on his harp,", "And while he twangled little Dagonet stood", "Quiet as any water-sodden log", "Stay'd in the wandering warble of a brook;", "But when the twangling ended, skipt again;", "And being ask'd, \"Why skipt ye not, Sir Fool?\"", "Made answer, \"I had liefer twenty years", "Skip to the broken music of my brains", "Than any broken music thou canst make.\"", "Then Tristram, waiting for the quip to come,", "\"Good now, what music have I broken, fool?\"", "And little Dagonet, skipping, \"Arthur, the King's;", "For when thou playest that air with Queen Isolt,", "Thou makest broken music with thy bride,", "Her daintier namesake down in Brittany--", "And so thou breakest Arthur's music, too.\"", "\"Save for that broken music in thy brains,", "Sir Fool,\" said Tristram, \"I would break thy head.", "Fool, I came late, the heathen wars were o'er,", "The life had flown, we sware but by the shell--", "I am but a fool to reason with a fool--", "Come, thou art crabb'd and sour: but lean me down,", "Sir Dagonet, one of thy long asses' ears,", "And harken if my music be not true.", "", "", "\"`Free love--free field--we love but while we may:", "The woods are hush'd, their music is no more:", "The leaf is dead, the yearning past away:", "New leaf, new life--the days of frost are o'er:", "New life, new love, to suit the newer day:", "New loves are sweet as those that went before:", "Free love--free field--we love but while we may.'", "", "", "\"Ye might have moved slow-measure to my tune,", "Not stood stockstill. I made it in the woods,", "And heard it ring as true as tested gold.\"", "", "", "But Dagonet with one foot poised in his hand,", "\"Friend, did ye mark that fountain yesterday", "Made to run wine?--but this had run itself", "All out like a long life to a sour end--", "And them that round it sat with golden cups", "To hand the wine to whosoever came--", "The twelve small damosels white as Innocence,", "In honour of poor Innocence the babe,", "Who left the gems which Innocence the Queen", "Lent to the King, and Innocence the King", "Gave for a prize--and one of those white slips", "Handed her cup and piped, the pretty one,", "'Drink, drink, Sir Fool,' and thereupon I drank,", "Spat--pish--the cup was gold, the draught was mud.\"", "", "", "And Tristram, \"Was it muddier than thy gibes?", "Is all the laughter gone dead out of thee?--", "Not marking how the knighthood mock thee, fool--", "'Fear God: honour the King--his one true knight--", "Sole follower of the vows'--for here be they", "Who knew thee swine enow before I came,", "Smuttier than blasted grain: but when the King", "Had made thee fool, thy vanity so shot up", "It frighted all free fool from out thy heart;", "Which left thee less than fool, and less than swine,", "A naked aught--yet swine I hold thee still,", "For I have flung thee pearls and find thee swine.\"", "", "", "And little Dagonet mincing with his feet,", "\"Knight, an ye fling those rubies round my neck", "In lieu of hers, I'll hold thou hast some touch", "Of music, since I care not for thy pearls.", "Swine? I have wallow'd, I have wash'd--the world", "Is flesh and shadow--I have had my day.", "The dirty nurse, Experience, in her kind", "Hath foul'd me--an I wallow'd, then I wash'd--", "I have had my day and my philosophies--", "And thank the Lord I am King Arthur's fool.", "Swine, say ye? swine, goats, asses, rams and geese", "Troop'd round a Paynim harper once, who thrumm'd", "On such a wire as musically as thou", "Some such fine song--but never a king's fool.\"", "", "", "And Tristram, \"Then were swine, goats, asses, geese", "The wiser fools, seeing thy Paynim bard", "Had such a mastery of his mystery", "That he could harp his wife up out of hell.\"", "", "", "Then Dagonet, turning on the ball of his foot,", "\"And whither harp'st thou thine? down! and thyself", "Down! and two more: a helpful harper thou,", "That harpest downward! dost thou know the star", "We call the harp of Arthur up in heaven?\"", "", "", "And Tristram, \"Ay, Sir Fool, for when our King", "Was victor wellnigh day by day, the knights,", "Glorying in each new glory, set his name", "High on all hills, and in the signs of heaven.\"", "", "", "And Dagonet answer'd, \"Ay, and when the land", "Was freed, and the Queen false, ye set yourself", "To babble about him, all to show your wit--", "And whether he were King by courtesy,", "Or King by right--and so went harping down", "The black king's highway, got so far, and grew", "So witty that we play'd at ducks and drakes", "With Arthur's vows on the great lake of fire.", "Tuwhoo! do ye see it? do ye see the star?\"", "", "", "\"Nay, fool,\" said Tristram, \"not in open day.\"", "And Dagonet, \"Nay, nor will: I see it and hear.", "It makes a silent music up in heaven,", "And I, and Arthur and the angels hear,", "And then we skip.\" \"Lo, fool,\" he said, \"ye talk", "Fool's treason: is the King thy brother fool?\"", "Then little Dagonet clapt his hands and shrill'd,", "\"Ay, ay, my brother fool, the king of fools!", "Conceits himself as God that he can make", "Figs out of thistles, silk from bristles, milk", "From burning spurge, honey from hornet-combs", "And men from beasts--Long live the king of fools!\"", "", "", "And down the city Dagonet danced away;", "But thro' the slowly-mellowing avenues", "And solitary passes of the wood", "Rode Tristram toward Lyonnesse and the west.", "Before him fled the face of Queen Isolt", "With ruby-circled neck, but evermore", "Past, as a rustle or twitter in the wood", "Made dull his inner, keen his outer eye", "For all that walk'd, or crept, or perch'd, or flew.", "Anon the face, as, when a gust hath blown,", "Unruffling waters re-collect the shape", "Of one that in them sees himself, return'd;", "But at the slot or fewmets of a deer,", "Or ev'n a fall'n feather, vanish'd again.", "", "", "So on for all that day from lawn to lawn", "Thro' many a league-long bower he rode. At length", "A lodge of intertwisted beechen-boughs", "Furze-cramm'd, and bracken-rooft, the which himself", "Built for a summer day with Queen Isolt", "Against a shower, dark in the golden grove", "Appearing, sent his fancy back to where", "She lived a moon in that low lodge with him:", "Till Mark her lord had past, the Cornish King,", "With six or seven, when Tristram was away,", "And snatch'd her thence; yet dreading worse than shame", "Her warrior Tristram, spake not any word,", "But bode his hour, devising wretchedness.", "", "", "And now that desert lodge to Tristram lookt", "So sweet, that halting, in he past, and sank", "Down on a drift of foliage random-blown;", "But could not rest for musing how to smoothe", "And sleek his marriage over to the Queen.", "Perchance in lone Tintagil far from all", "The tonguesters of the court she had not heard.", "But then what folly had sent him overseas", "After she left him lonely here? a name?", "Was it the name of one in Brittany,", "Isolt, the daughter of the King? \"Isolt", "Of the white hands\" they call'd her: the sweet name", "Allured him first, and then the maid herself,", "Who served him well with those white hands of hers,", "And loved him well, until himself had thought", "He loved her also, wedded easily,", "But left her all as easily, and return'd.", "The black-blue Irish hair and Irish eyes", "Had drawn him home--what marvel? then he laid", "His brows upon the drifted leaf and dream'd.", "", "", "He seem'd to pace the strand of Brittany", "Between Isolt of Britain and his bride,", "And show'd them both the ruby-chain, and both", "Began to struggle for it, till his Queen", "Graspt it so hard, that all her hand was red.", "Then cried the Breton, \"Look, her hand is red!", "These be no rubies, this is frozen blood,", "And melts within her hand--her hand is hot", "With ill desires, but this I gave thee, look,", "Is all as cool and white as any flower.\"", "Follow'd a rush of eagle's wings, and then", "A whimpering of the spirit of the child,", "Because the twain had spoil'd her carcanet.", "", "", "He dream'd; but Arthur with a hundred spears", "Rode far, till o'er the illimitable reed,", "And many a glancing plash and sallowy isle,", "The wide-wing'd sunset of the misty marsh", "Glared on a huge machicolated tower", "That stood with open doors, where out was roll'd", "A roar of riot, as from men secure", "Amid their marshes, ruffians at their ease", "Among their harlot-brides, an evil song.", "\"Lo there,\" said one of Arthur's youth, for there,", "High on a grim dead tree before the tower,", "A goodly brother of the Table Round", "Swung by the neck: and on the boughs a shield", "Showing a shower of blood in a field noir,", "And therebeside a horn, inflamed the knights", "At that dishonour done the gilded spur,", "Till each would clash the shield, and blow the horn.", "But Arthur waved them back. Alone he rode.", "Then at the dry harsh roar of the great horn,", "That sent the face of all the marsh aloft", "An ever upward-rushing storm and cloud", "Of shriek and plume, the Red Knight heard, and all,", "Even to tipmost lance and topmost helm", "In blood-red armour sallying, howl'd to the King,", "", "", "\"The teeth of Hell flay bare and gnash thee flat!", "Lo! art thou not that eunuch-hearted King", "Who fain had clipt free manhood from the world--", "The woman-worshipper? Yea, God's curse, and I!", "Slain was the brother of my paramour", "By a knight of thine, and I that heard her whine", "And snivel, being eunuch-hearted too,", "Sware by the scorpion-worm that twists in hell,", "And stings itself to everlasting death,", "To hang whatever knight of thine I fought", "And tumbled. Art thou King?--Look to thy life!\"", "", "", "He ended: Arthur knew the voice; the face", "Wellnigh was helmet-hidden, and the name", "Went wandering somewhere darkling in his mind.", "And Arthur deign'd not use of word or sword,", "But let the drunkard, as he stretch'd from horse", "To strike him, overbalancing his bulk,", "Down from the causeway heavily to the swamp", "Fall, as the crest of some slow-arching wave,", "Heard in dead night along that table-shore,", "Drops flat, and after the great waters break", "Whitening for half a league, and thin themselves,", "Far over sands marbled with moon and cloud,", "From less and less to nothing; thus he fell", "Head-heavy; then the knights, who watch'd him, roar'd", "And shouted and leapt down upon the fall'n;", "There trampled out his face from being known,", "And sank his head in mire, and slimed themselves:", "Nor heard the King for their own cries, but sprang", "Thro' open doors, and swording right and left", "Men, women, on their sodden faces, hurl'd", "The tables over and the wines, and slew", "Till all the rafters rang with woman-yells,", "And all the pavement stream'd with massacre:", "Then, echoing yell with yell, they fired the tower,", "Which half that autumn night, like the live North,", "Red-pulsing up thro' Alioth and Alcor,", "Made all above it, and a hundred meres", "About it, as the water Moab saw", "Come round by the East, and out beyond them flush'd", "The long low dune, and lazy-plunging sea.", "", "", "So all the ways were safe from shore to shore,", "But in the heart of Arthur pain was lord.", "", "", "Then, out of Tristram waking, the red dream", "Fled with a shout, and that low lodge return'd,", "Mid-forest, and the wind among the boughs.", "He whistled his good warhorse left to graze", "Among the forest greens, vaulted upon him,", "And rode beneath an ever-showering leaf,", "Till one lone woman, weeping near a cross,", "Stay'd him. \"Why weep ye?\" \"Lord,\" she said, \"my man", "Hath left me or is dead\"; whereon he thought--", "\"What, if she hate me now? I would not this.", "What, if she love me still? I would not that.", "I know not what I would\"--but said to her,", "\"Yet weep not thou, lest, if thy mate return,", "He find thy favour changed and love thee not\"--", "Then pressing day by day thro' Lyonnesse", "Last in a roky hollow, belling, heard", "The hounds of Mark, and felt the goodly hounds", "Yelp at his heart, but turning, past and gain'd", "Tintagil, half in sea, and high on land,", "A crown of towers. Down in a casement sat,", "A low sea-sunset glorying round her hair", "And glossy-throated grace, Isolt the Queen.", "And when she heard the feet of Tristram grind", "The spiring stone that scaled about her tower,", "Flush'd, started, met him at the doors, and there", "Belted his body with her white embrace,", "Crying aloud, \"Not Mark--not Mark, my soul!", "The footstep flutter'd me at first: not he:", "Catlike thro' his own castle steals my Mark,", "But warrior-wise thou stridest thro' his halls", "Who hates thee, as I him--ev'n to the death.", "My soul, I felt my hatred for my Mark", "Quicken within me, and knew that thou wert nigh.\"", "To whom Sir Tristram smiling, \"I am here.", "Let be thy Mark, seeing he is not thine.\"", "", "", "And drawing somewhat backward she replied,", "\"Can he be wrong'd who is not ev'n his own,", "But save for dread of thee had beaten me,", "Scratch'd, bitten, blinded, marr'd me somehow--Mark?", "What rights are his that dare not strike for them?", "Not lift a hand--not, tho' he found me thus!", "But harken! have ye met him? hence he went", "To-day for three days' hunting--as he said--", "And so returns belike within an hour.", "Mark's way, my soul!--but eat not thou with Mark,", "Because he hates thee even more than fears;", "Nor drink: and when thou passest any wood", "Close vizor, lest an arrow from the bush", "Should leave me all alone with Mark and hell.", "My God, the measure of my hate for Mark", "Is as the measure of my love for thee.''", "", "", "So, pluck'd one way by hate and one by love,", "Drain'd of her force, again she sat, and spake", "To Tristram, as he knelt before her, saying,", "\"O hunter, and O blower of the horn,", "Harper, and thou hast been a rover too,", "For, ere I mated with my shambling king,", "Ye twain had fallen out about the bride", "Of one--his name is out of me--the prize,", "If prize she were--(what marvel--she could see)", "Thine, friend; and ever since my craven seeks", "To wreck thee villainously: but, O Sir Knight,", "What dame or damsel have ye kneel'd to last?\"", "", "", "And Tristram, \"Last to my Queen Paramount,", "Here now to my Queen Paramount of love", "And loveliness--ay, lovelier than when first", "Her light feet fell on our rough Lyonnesse,", "Sailing from Ireland.\" Softly laugh'd Isolt;", "\"Flatter me not, for hath not our great Queen", "My dole of beauty trebled?\" and he said,", "\"Her beauty is her beauty, and thine thine,", "And thine is more to me--soft, gracious, kind--", "Save when thy Mark is kindled on thy lips", "Most gracious; but she, haughty ev'n to him,", "Lancelot; for I have seen him wan enow", "To make one doubt if ever the great Queen", "Have yielded him her love.\"", "", "", "To whom Isolt,", "\"Ah then, false hunter and false harper, thou", "Who brakest thro' the scruple of my bond,", "Calling me thy white hind, and saying to me", "That Guinevere had sinn'd against the highest,", "And I--misyoked with such a want of man--", "That I could hardly sin against the lowest.\"", "", "", "He answer'd, \"O my soul, be comforted!", "If this be sweet, to sin in leading-strings,", "If here be comfort, and if ours be sin,", "Crown'd warrant had we for the crowning sin", "That made us happy: but how ye greet me--fear", "And fault and doubt--no word of that fond tale--", "Thy deep heart-yearnings, thy sweet memories", "Of Tristram in that year he was away.\"", "", "", "And, saddening on the sudden, spake Isolt,", "\"I had forgotten all in my strong joy", "To see thee--yearnings?--ay! for, hour by hour,", "Here in the never-ended afternoon,", "O sweeter than all memories of thee,", "Deeper than any yearnings after thee", "Seem'd those far-rolling, westward-smiling seas,", "Watch'd from this tower. Isolt of Britain dash'd", "Before Isolt of Brittany on the strand,", "Would that have chill'd her bride-kiss? Wedded her?", "Fought in her father's battles? wounded there?", "The King was all fulfill'd with gratefulness,", "And she, my namesake of the hands, that heal'd", "Thy hurt and heart with unguent and caress--", "Well--can I wish her any huger wrong", "Than having known thee? her too hast thou left", "To pine and waste in those sweet memories.", "O were I not my Mark's, by whom all men", "Are noble, I should hate thee more than love.\"", "", "", "And Tristram, fondling her light hands, replied,", "\"Grace, Queen, for being loved: she loved me well.", "Did I love her? the name at least I loved.", "Isolt?--I fought his battles, for Isolt!", "The night was dark; the true star set. Isolt!", "The name was ruler of the dark--Isolt?", "Care not for her! patient, and prayerful, meek,", "Pale-blooded, she will yield herself to God.\"", "", "", "And Isolt answer'd, \"Yea, and why not I?", "Mine is the larger need, who am not meek,", "Pale-blooded, prayerful. Let me tell thee now.", "Here one black, mute midsummer night I sat,", "Lonely, but musing on thee, wondering where,", "Murmuring a light song I had heard thee sing,", "And once or twice I spake thy name aloud.", "Then flash'd a levin-brand; and near me stood,", "In fuming sulphur blue and green, a fiend--", "Mark's way to steal behind one in the dark--", "For there was Mark: 'He has wedded her,' he said,", "Not said, but hiss'd it: then this crown of towers", "So shook to such a roar of all the sky,", "That here in utter dark I swoon'd away,", "And woke again in utter dark, and cried,", "'I will flee hence and give myself to God'--", "And thou wert lying in thy new leman's arms.\"", "", "", "Then Tristram, ever dallying with her hand,", "\"May God be with thee, sweet, when old and gray,", "And past desire!\" a saying that anger'd her.'", "\"`May God be with thee, sweet, when thou art old,", "And sweet no more to me!' I need Him now.", "For when had Lancelot utter'd aught so gross", "Ev'n to the swineherd's malkin in the mast?", "The greater man, the greater courtesy.", "Far other was the Tristram, Arthur's knight!", "But thou, thro' ever harrying thy wild beasts--", "Save that to touch a harp, tilt with a lance", "Becomes thee well--art grown wild beast thyself.", "How darest thou, if lover, push me even", "In fancy from thy side, and set me far", "In the gray distance, half a life away,", "Her to be loved no more? Unsay it, unswear!", "Flatter me rather, seeing me so weak,", "Broken with Mark and hate and solitude,", "Thy marriage and mine own, that I should suck", "Lies like sweet wines: lie to me: I believe.", "Will ye not lie? not swear, as there ye kneel,", "And solemnly as when ye sware to him", "The man of men, our King--My God, the power", "Was once in vows when men believed the King!", "They lied not then, who sware, and thro' their vows", "The King prevailing made his realm:--I say,", "Swear to me thou wilt love me ev'n when old,", "Gray-hair'd, and past desire, and in despair.\"", "", "", "Then Tristram, pacing moodily up and down,", "\"Vows! did you keep the vow you made to Mark", "More than I mine? Lied, say ye? Nay, but learnt,", "The vow that binds too strictly snaps itself--", "My knighthood taught me this--ay, being snapt--", "We run more counter to the soul thereof", "Than had we never sworn. I swear no more.", "I swore to the great King, and am forsworn.", "For once--ev'n to the height--I honour'd him.", "'Man, is he man at all?' methought, when first", "I rode from our rough Lyonnesse, and beheld", "That victor of the Pagan throned in hall--", "His hair, a sun that ray'd from off a brow", "Like hillsnow high in heaven, the steel-blue eyes,", "The golden beard that clothed his lips with light--", "Moreover, that weird legend of his birth,", "With Merlin's mystic babble about his end", "Amazed me; then his foot was on a stool", "Shaped as a dragon; he seem'd to me no man,", "But Michaël trampling Satan; so I sware,", "Being amazed: but this went by--The vows!", "O ay--the wholesome madness of an hour--", "They served their use, their time; for every knight", "Believed himself a greater than himself,", "And every follower eyed him as a God;", "Till he, being lifted up beyond himself,", "Did mightier deeds than elsewise he had done,", "And so the realm was made; but then their vows--", "First mainly thro' that sullying of our Queen--", "Began to gall the knighthood, asking whence", "Had Arthur right to bind them to himself?", "Dropt down from heaven? wash'd up from out the deep?", "They fail'd to trace him thro' the flesh and blood", "Of our old kings: whence then? a doubtful lord", "To bind them by inviolable vows,", "Which flesh and blood perforce would violate:", "For feel this arm of mine--the tide within", "Red with free chase and heather-scented air,", "Pulsing full man; can Arthur make me pure", "As any maiden child? lock up my tongue", "From uttering freely what I freely hear?", "Bind me to one? The wide world laughs at it.", "And worldling of the world am I, and know", "The ptarmigan that whitens ere his hour", "Woos his own end; we are not angels here", "Nor shall be: vows--I am woodman of the woods,", "And hear the garnet-headed yaffingale", "Mock them: my soul, we love but while we may;", "And therefore is my love so large for thee,", "Seeing it is not bounded save by love.\"", "", "", "Here ending, he moved toward her, and she said,", "\"Good: an I turn'd away my love for thee", "To some one thrice as courteous as thyself--", "For courtesy wins woman all as well", "As valour may, but he that closes both", "Is perfect, he is Lancelot--taller indeed,", "Rosier and comelier, thou--but say I loved", "This knightliest of all knights, and cast thee back", "Thine own small saw, 'We love but while we may,'", "Well then, what answer?\" He that while she spake,", "Mindful of what he brought to adorn her with,", "The jewels, had let one finger lightly touch", "The warm white apple of her throat, replied,", "\"Press this a little closer, sweet, until--", "Come, I am hunger'd and half-anger'd--meat,", "Wine, wine--and I will love thee to the death,", "And out beyond into the dream to come.\"", "", "", "So then, when both were brought to full accord,", "She rose, and set before him all he will'd;", "And after these had comforted the blood", "With meats and wines, and satiated their hearts--", "Now talking of their woodland paradise,", "The deer, the dews, the fern, the founts, the lawns;", "Now mocking at the much ungainliness,", "And craven shifts, and long crane legs of Mark--", "Then Tristram laughing caught the harp, and sang:", "", "", "\"Ay, ay, O ay--the winds that bend the brier!", "A star in heaven, a star within the mere!", "Ay, ay, O ay--a star was my desire,", "And one was far apart, and one was near:", "Ay, ay, O ay--the winds that bow the grass!", "And one was water and one star was fire,", "And one will ever shine and one will pass.", "Ay, ay, O ay--the winds that move the mere.\"", "", "", "Then in the light's last glimmer Tristram show'd", "And swung the ruby carcanet. She cried,", "\"The collar of some Order, which our King", "Hath newly founded, all for thee, my soul,", "For thee, to yield thee grace beyond thy peers.\"", "", "", "\"Not so, my Queen,\" he said, \"but the red fruit", "Grown on a magic oak-tree in mid-heaven,", "And won by Tristram as a tourney-prize,", "And hither brought by Tristram for his last", "Love-offering and peace-offering unto thee.\"", "", "", "He spoke, he turn'd, then, flinging round her neck,", "Claspt it, and cried \"Thine Order, O my Queen!\"", "But, while he bow'd to kiss the jewell'd throat,", "Out of the dark, just as the lips had touch'd,", "Behind him rose a shadow and a shriek--", "\"Mark's way,\" said Mark, and clove him thro' the brain.", "", "", "That night came Arthur home, and while he climb'd,", "All in a death-dumb autumn-dripping gloom,", "The stairway to the hall, and look'd and saw", "The great Queen's bower was dark,--about his feet", "A voice clung sobbing till he question'd it,", "\"What art thou?\" and the voice about his feet", "Sent up an answer, sobbing, \"I am thy fool,", "And I shall never make thee smile again.\"" ], "linecount": "757" }, { "title": "Pelleas And Ettarre", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "King Arthur made new knights to fill the gap", "Left by the Holy Quest; and as he sat", "In hall at old Caerleon, the high doors", "Were softly sundered, and through these a youth,", "Pelleas, and the sweet smell of the fields", "Past, and the sunshine came along with him.", "", "`Make me thy knight, because I know, Sir King,", "All that belongs to knighthood, and I love.'", "Such was his cry: for having heard the King", "Had let proclaim a tournament--the prize", "A golden circlet and a knightly sword,", "Full fain had Pelleas for his lady won", "The golden circlet, for himself the sword:", "And there were those who knew him near the King,", "And promised for him: and Arthur made him knight.", "", "And this new knight, Sir Pelleas of the isles--", "But lately come to his inheritance,", "And lord of many a barren isle was he--", "Riding at noon, a day or twain before,", "Across the forest called of Dean, to find", "Caerleon and the King, had felt the sun", "Beat like a strong knight on his helm, and reeled", "Almost to falling from his horse; but saw", "Near him a mound of even-sloping side,", "Whereon a hundred stately beeches grew,", "And here and there great hollies under them;", "But for a mile all round was open space,", "And fern and heath: and slowly Pelleas drew", "To that dim day, then binding his good horse", "To a tree, cast himself down; and as he lay", "At random looking over the brown earth", "Through that green-glooming twilight of the grove,", "It seemed to Pelleas that the fern without", "Burnt as a living fire of emeralds,", "So that his eyes were dazzled looking at it.", "Then o'er it crost the dimness of a cloud", "Floating, and once the shadow of a bird", "Flying, and then a fawn; and his eyes closed.", "And since he loved all maidens, but no maid", "In special, half-awake he whispered, `Where?", "O where? I love thee, though I know thee not.", "For fair thou art and pure as Guinevere,", "And I will make thee with my spear and sword", "As famous--O my Queen, my Guinevere,", "For I will be thine Arthur when we meet.'", "", "Suddenly wakened with a sound of talk", "And laughter at the limit of the wood,", "And glancing through the hoary boles, he saw,", "Strange as to some old prophet might have seemed", "A vision hovering on a sea of fire,", "Damsels in divers colours like the cloud", "Of sunset and sunrise, and all of them", "On horses, and the horses richly trapt", "Breast-high in that bright line of bracken stood:", "And all the damsels talked confusedly,", "And one was pointing this way, and one that,", "Because the way was lost.", "", "And Pelleas rose,", "And loosed his horse, and led him to the light.", "There she that seemed the chief among them said,", "`In happy time behold our pilot-star!", "Youth, we are damsels-errant, and we ride,", "Armed as ye see, to tilt against the knights", "There at Caerleon, but have lost our way:", "To right? to left? straight forward? back again?", "Which? tell us quickly.'", "", "Pelleas gazing thought,", "`Is Guinevere herself so beautiful?'", "For large her violet eyes looked, and her bloom", "A rosy dawn kindled in stainless heavens,", "And round her limbs, mature in womanhood;", "And slender was her hand and small her shape;", "And but for those large eyes, the haunts of scorn,", "She might have seemed a toy to trifle with,", "And pass and care no more. But while he gazed", "The beauty of her flesh abashed the boy,", "As though it were the beauty of her soul:", "For as the base man, judging of the good,", "Puts his own baseness in him by default", "Of will and nature, so did Pelleas lend", "All the young beauty of his own soul to hers,", "Believing her; and when she spake to him,", "Stammered, and could not make her a reply.", "For out of the waste islands had he come,", "Where saving his own sisters he had known", "Scarce any but the women of his isles,", "Rough wives, that laughed and screamed against the gulls,", "Makers of nets, and living from the sea.", "", "Then with a slow smile turned the lady round", "And looked upon her people; and as when", "A stone is flung into some sleeping tarn,", "The circle widens till it lip the marge,", "Spread the slow smile through all her company.", "Three knights were thereamong; and they too smiled,", "Scorning him; for the lady was Ettarre,", "And she was a great lady in her land.", "", "Again she said, `O wild and of the woods,", "Knowest thou not the fashion of our speech?", "Or have the Heavens but given thee a fair face,", "Lacking a tongue?'", "", "`O damsel,' answered he,", "`I woke from dreams; and coming out of gloom", "Was dazzled by the sudden light, and crave", "Pardon: but will ye to Caerleon? I", "Go likewise: shall I lead you to the King?'", "", "`Lead then,' she said; and through the woods they went.", "And while they rode, the meaning in his eyes,", "His tenderness of manner, and chaste awe,", "His broken utterances and bashfulness,", "Were all a burthen to her, and in her heart", "She muttered, `I have lighted on a fool,", "Raw, yet so stale!' But since her mind was bent", "On hearing, after trumpet blown, her name", "And title, `Queen of Beauty,' in the lists", "Cried--and beholding him so strong, she thought", "That peradventure he will fight for me,", "And win the circlet: therefore flattered him,", "Being so gracious, that he wellnigh deemed", "His wish by hers was echoed; and her knights", "And all her damsels too were gracious to him,", "For she was a great lady.", "", "And when they reached", "Caerleon, ere they past to lodging, she,", "Taking his hand, `O the strong hand,' she said,", "`See! look at mine! but wilt thou fight for me,", "And win me this fine circlet, Pelleas,", "That I may love thee?'", "", "Then his helpless heart", "Leapt, and he cried, `Ay! wilt thou if I win?'", "`Ay, that will I,' she answered, and she laughed,", "And straitly nipt the hand, and flung it from her;", "Then glanced askew at those three knights of hers,", "Till all her ladies laughed along with her.", "", "`O happy world,' thought Pelleas, `all, meseems,", "Are happy; I the happiest of them all.'", "Nor slept that night for pleasure in his blood,", "And green wood-ways, and eyes among the leaves;", "Then being on the morrow knighted, sware", "To love one only. And as he came away,", "The men who met him rounded on their heels", "And wondered after him, because his face", "Shone like the countenance of a priest of old", "Against the flame about a sacrifice", "Kindled by fire from heaven: so glad was he.", "", "Then Arthur made vast banquets, and strange knights", "From the four winds came in: and each one sat,", "Though served with choice from air, land, stream, and sea,", "Oft in mid-banquet measuring with his eyes", "His neighbour's make and might: and Pelleas looked", "Noble among the noble, for he dreamed", "His lady loved him, and he knew himself", "Loved of the King: and him his new-made knight", "Worshipt, whose lightest whisper moved him more", "Than all the rangd reasons of the world.", "", "Then blushed and brake the morning of the jousts,", "And this was called `The Tournament of Youth:'", "For Arthur, loving his young knight, withheld", "His older and his mightier from the lists,", "That Pelleas might obtain his lady's love,", "According to her promise, and remain", "Lord of the tourney. And Arthur had the jousts", "Down in the flat field by the shore of Usk", "Holden: the gilded parapets were crowned", "With faces, and the great tower filled with eyes", "Up to the summit, and the trumpets blew.", "There all day long Sir Pelleas kept the field", "With honour: so by that strong hand of his", "The sword and golden circlet were achieved.", "", "Then rang the shout his lady loved: the heat", "Of pride and glory fired her face; her eye", "Sparkled; she caught the circlet from his lance,", "And there before the people crowned herself:", "So for the last time she was gracious to him.", "", "Then at Caerleon for a space--her look", "Bright for all others, cloudier on her knight--", "Lingered Ettarre: and seeing Pelleas droop,", "Said Guinevere, `We marvel at thee much,", "O damsel, wearing this unsunny face", "To him who won thee glory!' And she said,", "`Had ye not held your Lancelot in your bower,", "My Queen, he had not won.' Whereat the Queen,", "As one whose foot is bitten by an ant,", "Glanced down upon her, turned and went her way.", "", "But after, when her damsels, and herself,", "And those three knights all set their faces home,", "Sir Pelleas followed. She that saw him cried,", "`Damsels--and yet I should be shamed to say it--", "I cannot bide Sir Baby. Keep him back", "Among yourselves. Would rather that we had", "Some rough old knight who knew the worldly way,", "Albeit grizzlier than a bear, to ride", "And jest with: take him to you, keep him off,", "And pamper him with papmeat, if ye will,", "Old milky fables of the wolf and sheep,", "Such as the wholesome mothers tell their boys.", "Nay, should ye try him with a merry one", "To find his mettle, good: and if he fly us,", "Small matter! let him.' This her damsels heard,", "And mindful of her small and cruel hand,", "They, closing round him through the journey home,", "Acted her hest, and always from her side", "Restrained him with all manner of device,", "So that he could not come to speech with her.", "And when she gained her castle, upsprang the bridge,", "Down rang the grate of iron through the groove,", "And he was left alone in open field.", "", "`These be the ways of ladies,' Pelleas thought,", "`To those who love them, trials of our faith.", "Yea, let her prove me to the uttermost,", "For loyal to the uttermost am I.'", "So made his moan; and darkness falling, sought", "A priory not far off, there lodged, but rose", "With morning every day, and, moist or dry,", "Full-armed upon his charger all day long", "Sat by the walls, and no one opened to him.", "", "And this persistence turned her scorn to wrath.", "Then calling her three knights, she charged them, `Out!", "And drive him from the walls.' And out they came", "But Pelleas overthrew them as they dashed", "Against him one by one; and these returned,", "But still he kept his watch beneath the wall.", "", "Thereon her wrath became a hate; and once,", "A week beyond, while walking on the walls", "With her three knights, she pointed downward, `Look,", "He haunts me--I cannot breathe--besieges me;", "Down! strike him! put my hate into your strokes,", "And drive him from my walls.' And down they went,", "And Pelleas overthrew them one by one;", "And from the tower above him cried Ettarre,", "`Bind him, and bring him in.'", "", "He heard her voice;", "Then let the strong hand, which had overthrown", "Her minion-knights, by those he overthrew", "Be bounden straight, and so they brought him in.", "", "Then when he came before Ettarre, the sight", "Of her rich beauty made him at one glance", "More bondsman in his heart than in his bonds.", "Yet with good cheer he spake, `Behold me, Lady,", "A prisoner, and the vassal of thy will;", "And if thou keep me in thy donjon here,", "Content am I so that I see thy face", "But once a day: for I have sworn my vows,", "And thou hast given thy promise, and I know", "That all these pains are trials of my faith,", "And that thyself, when thou hast seen me strained", "And sifted to the utmost, wilt at length", "Yield me thy love and know me for thy knight.'", "", "Then she began to rail so bitterly,", "With all her damsels, he was stricken mute;", "But when she mocked his vows and the great King,", "Lighted on words: `For pity of thine own self,", "Peace, Lady, peace: is he not thine and mine?'", "`Thou fool,' she said, `I never heard his voice", "But longed to break away. Unbind him now,", "And thrust him out of doors; for save he be", "Fool to the midmost marrow of his bones,", "He will return no more.' And those, her three,", "Laughed, and unbound, and thrust him from the gate.", "", "And after this, a week beyond, again", "She called them, saying, `There he watches yet,", "There like a dog before his master's door!", "Kicked, he returns: do ye not hate him, ye?", "Ye know yourselves: how can ye bide at peace,", "Affronted with his fulsome innocence?", "Are ye but creatures of the board and bed,", "No men to strike? Fall on him all at once,", "And if ye slay him I reck not: if ye fail,", "Give ye the slave mine order to be bound,", "Bind him as heretofore, and bring him in:", "It may be ye shall slay him in his bonds.'", "", "She spake; and at her will they couched their spears,", "Three against one: and Gawain passing by,", "Bound upon solitary adventure, saw", "Low down beneath the shadow of those towers", "A villainy, three to one: and through his heart", "The fire of honour and all noble deeds", "Flashed, and he called, `I strike upon thy side--", "The caitiffs!' `Nay,' said Pelleas, `but forbear;", "He needs no aid who doth his lady's will.'", "", "So Gawain, looking at the villainy done,", "Forbore, but in his heat and eagerness", "Trembled and quivered, as the dog, withheld", "A moment from the vermin that he sees", "Before him, shivers, ere he springs and kills.", "", "And Pelleas overthrew them, one to three;", "And they rose up, and bound, and brought him in.", "Then first her anger, leaving Pelleas, burned", "Full on her knights in many an evil name", "Of craven, weakling, and thrice-beaten hound:", "`Yet, take him, ye that scarce are fit to touch,", "Far less to bind, your victor, and thrust him out,", "And let who will release him from his bonds.", "And if he comes again'--there she brake short;", "And Pelleas answered, `Lady, for indeed", "I loved you and I deemed you beautiful,", "I cannot brook to see your beauty marred", "Through evil spite: and if ye love me not,", "I cannot bear to dream you so forsworn:", "I had liefer ye were worthy of my love,", "Than to be loved again of you--farewell;", "And though ye kill my hope, not yet my love,", "Vex not yourself: ye will not see me more.'", "", "While thus he spake, she gazed upon the man", "Of princely bearing, though in bonds, and thought,", "`Why have I pushed him from me? this man loves,", "If love there be: yet him I loved not. Why?", "I deemed him fool? yea, so? or that in him", "A something--was it nobler than myself?", "Seemed my reproach? He is not of my kind.", "He could not love me, did he know me well.", "Nay, let him go--and quickly.' And her knights", "Laughed not, but thrust him bounden out of door.", "", "Forth sprang Gawain, and loosed him from his bonds,", "And flung them o'er the walls; and afterward,", "Shaking his hands, as from a lazar's rag,", "`Faith of my body,' he said, `and art thou not--", "Yea thou art he, whom late our Arthur made", "Knight of his table; yea and he that won", "The circlet? wherefore hast thou so defamed", "Thy brotherhood in me and all the rest,", "As let these caitiffs on thee work their will?'", "", "And Pelleas answered, `O, their wills are hers", "For whom I won the circlet; and mine, hers,", "Thus to be bounden, so to see her face,", "Marred though it be with spite and mockery now,", "Other than when I found her in the woods;", "And though she hath me bounden but in spite,", "And all to flout me, when they bring me in,", "Let me be bounden, I shall see her face;", "Else must I die through mine unhappiness.'", "", "And Gawain answered kindly though in scorn,", "`Why, let my lady bind me if she will,", "And let my lady beat me if she will:", "But an she send her delegate to thrall", "These fighting hands of mine--Christ kill me then", "But I will slice him handless by the wrist,", "And let my lady sear the stump for him,", "Howl as he may. But hold me for your friend:", "Come, ye know nothing: here I pledge my troth,", "Yea, by the honour of the Table Round,", "I will be leal to thee and work thy work,", "And tame thy jailing princess to thine hand.", "Lend me thine horse and arms, and I will say", "That I have slain thee. She will let me in", "To hear the manner of thy fight and fall;", "Then, when I come within her counsels, then", "From prime to vespers will I chant thy praise", "As prowest knight and truest lover, more", "Than any have sung thee living, till she long", "To have thee back in lusty life again,", "Not to be bound, save by white bonds and warm,", "Dearer than freedom. Wherefore now thy horse", "And armour: let me go: be comforted:", "Give me three days to melt her fancy, and hope", "The third night hence will bring thee news of gold.'", "", "Then Pelleas lent his horse and all his arms,", "Saving the goodly sword, his prize, and took", "Gawain's, and said, `Betray me not, but help--", "Art thou not he whom men call light-of-love?'", "", "`Ay,' said Gawain, `for women be so light.'", "Then bounded forward to the castle walls,", "And raised a bugle hanging from his neck,", "And winded it, and that so musically", "That all the old echoes hidden in the wall", "Rang out like hollow woods at hunting-tide.", "", "Up ran a score of damsels to the tower;", "`Avaunt,' they cried, `our lady loves thee not.'", "But Gawain lifting up his vizor said,", "`Gawain am I, Gawain of Arthur's court,", "And I have slain this Pelleas whom ye hate:", "Behold his horse and armour. Open gates,", "And I will make you merry.'", "", "And down they ran,", "Her damsels, crying to their lady, `Lo!", "Pelleas is dead--he told us--he that hath", "His horse and armour: will ye let him in?", "He slew him! Gawain, Gawain of the court,", "Sir Gawain--there he waits below the wall,", "Blowing his bugle as who should say him nay.'", "", "And so, leave given, straight on through open door", "Rode Gawain, whom she greeted courteously.", "`Dead, is it so?' she asked. `Ay, ay,' said he,", "`And oft in dying cried upon your name.'", "`Pity on him,' she answered, `a good knight,", "But never let me bide one hour at peace.'", "`Ay,' thought Gawain, `and you be fair enow:", "But I to your dead man have given my troth,", "That whom ye loathe, him will I make you love.'", "", "So those three days, aimless about the land,", "Lost in a doubt, Pelleas wandering", "Waited, until the third night brought a moon", "With promise of large light on woods and ways.", "", "Hot was the night and silent; but a sound", "Of Gawain ever coming, and this lay--", "Which Pelleas had heard sung before the Queen,", "And seen her sadden listening--vext his heart,", "And marred his rest--`A worm within the rose.'", "", "`A rose, but one, none other rose had I,", "A rose, one rose, and this was wondrous fair,", "One rose, a rose that gladdened earth and sky,", "One rose, my rose, that sweetened all mine air--", "I cared not for the thorns; the thorns were there.", "", "`One rose, a rose to gather by and by,", "One rose, a rose, to gather and to wear,", "No rose but one--what other rose had I?", "One rose, my rose; a rose that will not die,--", "He dies who loves it,--if the worm be there.'", "", "This tender rhyme, and evermore the doubt,", "`Why lingers Gawain with his golden news?'", "So shook him that he could not rest, but rode", "Ere midnight to her walls, and bound his horse", "Hard by the gates. Wide open were the gates,", "And no watch kept; and in through these he past,", "And heard but his own steps, and his own heart", "Beating, for nothing moved but his own self,", "And his own shadow. Then he crost the court,", "And spied not any light in hall or bower,", "But saw the postern portal also wide", "Yawning; and up a slope of garden, all", "Of roses white and red, and brambles mixt", "And overgrowing them, went on, and found,", "Here too, all hushed below the mellow moon,", "Save that one rivulet from a tiny cave", "Came lightening downward, and so spilt itself", "Among the roses, and was lost again.", "", "Then was he ware of three pavilions reared", "Above the bushes, gilden-peakt: in one,", "Red after revel, droned her lurdane knights", "Slumbering, and their three squires across their feet:", "In one, their malice on the placid lip", "Frozen by sweet sleep, four of her damsels lay:", "And in the third, the circlet of the jousts", "Bound on her brow, were Gawain and Ettarre.", "", "Back, as a hand that pushes through the leaf", "To find a nest and feels a snake, he drew:", "Back, as a coward slinks from what he fears", "To cope with, or a traitor proven, or hound", "Beaten, did Pelleas in an utter shame", "Creep with his shadow through the court again,", "Fingering at his sword-handle until he stood", "There on the castle-bridge once more, and thought,", "`I will go back, and slay them where they lie.'", "", "And so went back, and seeing them yet in sleep", "Said, `Ye, that so dishallow the holy sleep,", "Your sleep is death,' and drew the sword, and thought,", "`What! slay a sleeping knight? the King hath bound", "And sworn me to this brotherhood;' again,", "`Alas that ever a knight should be so false.'", "Then turned, and so returned, and groaning laid", "The naked sword athwart their naked throats,", "There left it, and them sleeping; and she lay,", "The circlet of her tourney round her brows,", "And the sword of the tourney across her throat.", "", "And forth he past, and mounting on his horse", "Stared at her towers that, larger than themselves", "In their own darkness, thronged into the moon.", "Then crushed the saddle with his thighs, and clenched", "His hands, and maddened with himself and moaned:", "", "`Would they have risen against me in their blood", "At the last day? I might have answered them", "Even before high God. O towers so strong,", "Huge, solid, would that even while I gaze", "The crack of earthquake shivering to your base", "Split you, and Hell burst up your harlot roofs", "Bellowing, and charred you through and through within,", "Black as the harlot's heart--hollow as a skull!", "Let the fierce east scream through your eyelet-holes,", "And whirl the dust of harlots round and round", "In dung and nettles! hiss, snake--I saw him there--", "Let the fox bark, let the wolf yell. Who yells", "Here in the still sweet summer night, but I--", "I, the poor Pelleas whom she called her fool?", "Fool, beast--he, she, or I? myself most fool;", "Beast too, as lacking human wit--disgraced,", "Dishonoured all for trial of true love--", "Love?--we be all alike: only the King", "Hath made us fools and liars. O noble vows!", "O great and sane and simple race of brutes", "That own no lust because they have no law!", "For why should I have loved her to my shame?", "I loathe her, as I loved her to my shame.", "I never loved her, I but lusted for her--", "Away--'", "He dashed the rowel into his horse,", "And bounded forth and vanished through the night.", "", "Then she, that felt the cold touch on her throat,", "Awaking knew the sword, and turned herself", "To Gawain: `Liar, for thou hast not slain", "This Pelleas! here he stood, and might have slain", "Me and thyself.' And he that tells the tale", "Says that her ever-veering fancy turned", "To Pelleas, as the one true knight on earth,", "And only lover; and through her love her life", "Wasted and pined, desiring him in vain.", "", "But he by wild and way, for half the night,", "And over hard and soft, striking the sod", "From out the soft, the spark from off the hard,", "Rode till the star above the wakening sun,", "Beside that tower where Percivale was cowled,", "Glanced from the rosy forehead of the dawn.", "For so the words were flashed into his heart", "He knew not whence or wherefore: `O sweet star,", "Pure on the virgin forehead of the dawn!'", "And there he would have wept, but felt his eyes", "Harder and drier than a fountain bed", "In summer: thither came the village girls", "And lingered talking, and they come no more", "Till the sweet heavens have filled it from the heights", "Again with living waters in the change", "Of seasons: hard his eyes; harder his heart", "Seemed; but so weary were his limbs, that he,", "Gasping, `Of Arthur's hall am I, but here,", "Here let me rest and die,' cast himself down,", "And gulfed his griefs in inmost sleep; so lay,", "Till shaken by a dream, that Gawain fired", "The hall of Merlin, and the morning star", "Reeled in the smoke, brake into flame, and fell.", "", "He woke, and being ware of some one nigh,", "Sent hands upon him, as to tear him, crying,", "`False! and I held thee pure as Guinevere.'", "", "But Percivale stood near him and replied,", "`Am I but false as Guinevere is pure?", "Or art thou mazed with dreams? or being one", "Of our free-spoken Table hast not heard", "That Lancelot'--there he checked himself and paused.", "", "Then fared it with Sir Pelleas as with one", "Who gets a wound in battle, and the sword", "That made it plunges through the wound again,", "And pricks it deeper: and he shrank and wailed,", "`Is the Queen false?' and Percivale was mute.", "`Have any of our Round Table held their vows?'", "And Percivale made answer not a word.", "`Is the King true?' `The King!' said Percivale.", "`Why then let men couple at once with wolves.", "What! art thou mad?'", "", "But Pelleas, leaping up,", "Ran through the doors and vaulted on his horse", "And fled: small pity upon his horse had he,", "Or on himself, or any, and when he met", "A cripple, one that held a hand for alms--", "Hunched as he was, and like an old dwarf-elm", "That turns its back upon the salt blast, the boy", "Paused not, but overrode him, shouting, `False,", "And false with Gawain!' and so left him bruised", "And battered, and fled on, and hill and wood", "Went ever streaming by him till the gloom,", "That follows on the turning of the world,", "Darkened the common path: he twitched the reins,", "And made his beast that better knew it, swerve", "Now off it and now on; but when he saw", "High up in heaven the hall that Merlin built,", "Blackening against the dead-green stripes of even,", "`Black nest of rats,' he groaned, `ye build too high.'", "", "Not long thereafter from the city gates", "Issued Sir Lancelot riding airily,", "Warm with a gracious parting from the Queen,", "Peace at his heart, and gazing at a star", "And marvelling what it was: on whom the boy,", "Across the silent seeded meadow-grass", "Borne, clashed: and Lancelot, saying, `What name hast thou", "That ridest here so blindly and so hard?'", "`No name, no name,' he shouted, `a scourge am I", "To lash the treasons of the Table Round.'", "`Yea, but thy name?' `I have many names,' he cried:", "`I am wrath and shame and hate and evil fame,", "And like a poisonous wind I pass to blast", "And blaze the crime of Lancelot and the Queen.'", "`First over me,' said Lancelot, `shalt thou pass.'", "`Fight therefore,' yelled the youth, and either knight", "Drew back a space, and when they closed, at once", "The weary steed of Pelleas floundering flung", "His rider, who called out from the dark field,", "`Thou art as false as Hell: slay me: I have no sword.'", "Then Lancelot, `Yea, between thy lips--and sharp;", "But here I will disedge it by thy death.'", "`Slay then,' he shrieked, `my will is to be slain,'", "And Lancelot, with his heel upon the fallen,", "Rolling his eyes, a moment stood, then spake:", "`Rise, weakling; I am Lancelot; say thy say.'", "", "And Lancelot slowly rode his warhorse back", "To Camelot, and Sir Pelleas in brief while", "Caught his unbroken limbs from the dark field,", "And followed to the city. It chanced that both", "Brake into hall together, worn and pale.", "There with her knights and dames was Guinevere.", "Full wonderingly she gazed on Lancelot", "So soon returned, and then on Pelleas, him", "Who had not greeted her, but cast himself", "Down on a bench, hard-breathing. `Have ye fought?'", "She asked of Lancelot. `Ay, my Queen,' he said.", "`And hast thou overthrown him?' `Ay, my Queen.'", "Then she, turning to Pelleas, `O young knight,", "Hath the great heart of knighthood in thee failed", "So far thou canst not bide, unfrowardly,", "A fall from HIM?' Then, for he answered not,", "`Or hast thou other griefs? If I, the Queen,", "May help them, loose thy tongue, and let me know.'", "But Pelleas lifted up an eye so fierce", "She quailed; and he, hissing `I have no sword,'", "Sprang from the door into the dark. The Queen", "Looked hard upon her lover, he on her;", "And each foresaw the dolorous day to be:", "And all talk died, as in a grove all song", "Beneath the shadow of some bird of prey;", "Then a long silence came upon the hall,", "And Modred thought, `The time is hard at hand.'" ], "linecount": "606" }, { "title": "Spring", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Birds' love and birds' song", "Flying here and there,", "Birds' songand birds' love", "And you with gold for hair!", "Birds' songand birds' love", "Passing with the weather,", "Men's song and men's love,", "To love once and forever.", "", "Men's love and birds' love,", "And women's love and men's!", "And you my wren with a crown of gold,", "You my queen of the wrens!", "You the queen of the wrens --", "We'll be birds of a feather,", "I'll be King of the Queen of the wrens,", "And all in a nest together." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "In Memoriam 3: O Sorrow, Cruel Fellowship", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "O Sorrow, cruel fellowship,", "O Priestess in the vaults of Death,", "O sweet and bitter in a breath,", "What whispers from thy lying lip?", "", "\"The stars,\" she whispers, \"blindly run;", "A web is wov'n across the sky;", "From out waste places comes a cry,", "And murmurs from the dying sun:", "", "\"And all the phantom, Nature, stands--", "With all the music in her tone,", "A hollow echo of my own,--", "A hollow form with empty hands.\"", "", "And shall I take a thing so blind,", "Embrace her as my natural good;", "Or crush her, like a vice of blood,", "Upon the threshold of the mind?" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "In Memoriam 82: I Wage Not Any Feud With Death", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "I wage not any feud with Death", "For changes wrought on form and face;", "No lower life that earth's embrace", "May breed with him, can fright my faith.", "", "Eternal process moving on,", "From state to state the spirit walks;", "And these are but the shatter'd stalks,", "Or ruin'd chrysalis of one.", "", "Nor blame I Death, because he bare", "The use of virtue out of earth:", "I know transplanted human worth", "Will bloom to profit, otherwhere.", "", "For this alone on Death I wreak", "The wrath that garners in my heart;", "He put our lives so far apart", "We cannot hear each other speak." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "The Princess (part 5)", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Now, scarce three paces measured from the mound,", "We stumbled on a stationary voice,", "And 'Stand, who goes?' 'Two from the palace' I.", "'The second two: they wait,' he said, 'pass on;", "His Highness wakes:' and one, that clashed in arms,", "By glimmering lanes and walls of canvas led", "Threading the soldier-city, till we heard", "The drowsy folds of our great ensign shake", "From blazoned lions o'er the imperial tent", "Whispers of war.", "Entering, the sudden light", "Dazed me half-blind: I stood and seemed to hear,", "As in a poplar grove when a light wind wakes", "A lisping of the innumerous leaf and dies,", "Each hissing in his neighbour's ear; and then", "A strangled titter, out of which there brake", "On all sides, clamouring etiquette to death,", "Unmeasured mirth; while now the two old kings", "Began to wag their baldness up and down,", "The fresh young captains flashed their glittering teeth,", "The huge bush-bearded Barons heaved and blew,", "And slain with laughter rolled the gilded Squire.", "", "At length my Sire, his rough cheek wet with tears,", "Panted from weary sides 'King, you are free!", "We did but keep you surety for our son,", "If this be he,--or a dragged mawkin, thou,", "That tends to her bristled grunters in the sludge:'", "For I was drenched with ooze, and torn with briers,", "More crumpled than a poppy from the sheath,", "And all one rag, disprinced from head to heel.", "Then some one sent beneath his vaulted palm", "A whispered jest to some one near him, 'Look,", "He has been among his shadows.' 'Satan take", "The old women and their shadows! (thus the King", "Roared) make yourself a man to fight with men.", "Go: Cyril told us all.'", "As boys that slink", "From ferule and the trespass-chiding eye,", "Away we stole, and transient in a trice", "From what was left of faded woman-slough", "To sheathing splendours and the golden scale", "Of harness, issued in the sun, that now", "Leapt from the dewy shoulders of the Earth,", "And hit the Northern hills. Here Cyril met us.", "A little shy at first, but by and by", "We twain, with mutual pardon asked and given", "For stroke and song, resoldered peace, whereon", "Followed his tale. Amazed he fled away", "Through the dark land, and later in the night", "Had come on Psyche weeping: 'then we fell", "Into your father's hand, and there she lies,", "But will not speak, or stir.'", "He showed a tent", "A stone-shot off: we entered in, and there", "Among piled arms and rough accoutrements,", "Pitiful sight, wrapped in a soldier's cloak,", "Like some sweet sculpture draped from head to foot,", "And pushed by rude hands from its pedestal,", "All her fair length upon the ground she lay:", "And at her head a follower of the camp,", "A charred and wrinkled piece of womanhood,", "Sat watching like the watcher by the dead.", "", "Then Florian knelt, and 'Come' he whispered to her,", "'Lift up your head, sweet sister: lie not thus.", "What have you done but right? you could not slay", "Me, nor your prince: look up: be comforted:", "Sweet is it to have done the thing one ought,", "When fallen in darker ways.' And likewise I:", "'Be comforted: have I not lost her too,", "In whose least act abides the nameless charm", "That none has else for me?' She heard, she moved,", "She moaned, a folded voice; and up she sat,", "And raised the cloak from brows as pale and smooth", "As those that mourn half-shrouded over death", "In deathless marble. 'Her,' she said, 'my friend--", "Parted from her--betrayed her cause and mine--", "Where shall I breathe? why kept ye not your faith?", "O base and bad! what comfort? none for me!'", "To whom remorseful Cyril, 'Yet I pray", "Take comfort: live, dear lady, for your child!'", "At which she lifted up her voice and cried.", "", "'Ah me, my babe, my blossom, ah, my child,", "My one sweet child, whom I shall see no more!", "For now will cruel Ida keep her back;", "And either she will die from want of care,", "Or sicken with ill-usage, when they say", "The child is hers--for every little fault,", "The child is hers; and they will beat my girl", "Remembering her mother: O my flower!", "Or they will take her, they will make her hard,", "And she will pass me by in after-life", "With some cold reverence worse than were she dead.", "Ill mother that I was to leave her there,", "To lag behind, scared by the cry they made,", "The horror of the shame among them all:", "But I will go and sit beside the doors,", "And make a wild petition night and day,", "Until they hate to hear me like a wind", "Wailing for ever, till they open to me,", "And lay my little blossom at my feet,", "My babe, my sweet Aglaïa, my one child:", "And I will take her up and go my way,", "And satisfy my soul with kissing her:", "Ah! what might that man not deserve of me", "Who gave me back my child?' 'Be comforted,'", "Said Cyril, 'you shall have it:' but again", "She veiled her brows, and prone she sank, and so", "Like tender things that being caught feign death,", "Spoke not, nor stirred.", "By this a murmur ran", "Through all the camp and inward raced the scouts", "With rumour of Prince Arab hard at hand.", "We left her by the woman, and without", "Found the gray kings at parle: and 'Look you' cried", "My father 'that our compact be fulfilled:", "You have spoilt this child; she laughs at you and man:", "She wrongs herself, her sex, and me, and him:", "But red-faced war has rods of steel and fire;", "She yields, or war.'", "Then Gama turned to me:", "'We fear, indeed, you spent a stormy time", "With our strange girl: and yet they say that still", "You love her. Give us, then, your mind at large:", "How say you, war or not?'", "'Not war, if possible,", "O king,' I said, 'lest from the abuse of war,", "The desecrated shrine, the trampled year,", "The smouldering homestead, and the household flower", "Torn from the lintel--all the common wrong--", "A smoke go up through which I loom to her", "Three times a monster: now she lightens scorn", "At him that mars her plan, but then would hate", "(And every voice she talked with ratify it,", "And every face she looked on justify it)", "The general foe. More soluble is this knot,", "By gentleness than war. I want her love.", "What were I nigher this although we dashed", "Your cities into shards with catapults,", "She would not love;--or brought her chained, a slave,", "The lifting of whose eyelash is my lord,", "Not ever would she love; but brooding turn", "The book of scorn, till all my flitting chance", "Were caught within the record of her wrongs,", "And crushed to death: and rather, Sire, than this", "I would the old God of war himself were dead,", "Forgotten, rusting on his iron hills,", "Rotting on some wild shore with ribs of wreck,", "Or like an old-world mammoth bulked in ice,", "Not to be molten out.'", "And roughly spake", "My father, 'Tut, you know them not, the girls.", "Boy, when I hear you prate I almost think", "That idiot legend credible. Look you, Sir!", "Man is the hunter; woman is his game:", "The sleek and shining creatures of the chase,", "We hunt them for the beauty of their skins;", "They love us for it, and we ride them down.", "Wheedling and siding with them! Out! for shame!", "Boy, there's no rose that's half so dear to them", "As he that does the thing they dare not do,", "Breathing and sounding beauteous battle, comes", "With the air of the trumpet round him, and leaps in", "Among the women, snares them by the score", "Flattered and flustered, wins, though dashed with death", "He reddens what he kisses: thus I won", "You mother, a good mother, a good wife,", "Worth winning; but this firebrand--gentleness", "To such as her! if Cyril spake her true,", "To catch a dragon in a cherry net,", "To trip a tigress with a gossamer", "Were wisdom to it.'", "'Yea but Sire,' I cried,", "'Wild natures need wise curbs. The soldier? No:", "What dares not Ida do that she should prize", "The soldier? I beheld her, when she rose", "The yesternight, and storming in extremes,", "Stood for her cause, and flung defiance down", "Gagelike to man, and had not shunned the death,", "No, not the soldier's: yet I hold her, king,", "True woman: you clash them all in one,", "That have as many differences as we.", "The violet varies from the lily as far", "As oak from elm: one loves the soldier, one", "The silken priest of peace, one this, one that,", "And some unworthily; their sinless faith,", "A maiden moon that sparkles on a sty,", "Glorifying clown and satyr; whence they need", "More breadth of culture: is not Ida right?", "They worth it? truer to the law within?", "Severer in the logic of a life?", "Twice as magnetic to sweet influences", "Of earth and heaven? and she of whom you speak,", "My mother, looks as whole as some serene", "Creation minted in the golden moods", "Of sovereign artists; not a thought, a touch,", "But pure as lines of green that streak the white", "Of the first snowdrop's inner leaves; I say,", "Not like the piebald miscellany, man,", "Bursts of great heart and slips in sensual mire,", "But whole and one: and take them all-in-all,", "Were we ourselves but half as good, as kind,", "As truthful, much that Ida claims as right", "Had ne'er been mooted, but as frankly theirs", "As dues of Nature. To our point: not war:", "Lest I lose all.'", "'Nay, nay, you spake but sense'", "Said Gama. 'We remember love ourself", "In our sweet youth; we did not rate him then", "This red-hot iron to be shaped with blows.", "You talk almost like Ida: ~she~ can talk;", "And there is something in it as you say:", "But you talk kindlier: we esteem you for it.--", "He seems a gracious and a gallant Prince,", "I would he had our daughter: for the rest,", "Our own detention, why, the causes weighed,", "Fatherly fears--you used us courteously--", "We would do much to gratify your Prince--", "We pardon it; and for your ingress here", "Upon the skirt and fringe of our fair land,", "you did but come as goblins in the night,", "Nor in the furrow broke the ploughman's head,", "Nor burnt the grange, nor bussed the milking-maid,", "Nor robbed the farmer of his bowl of cream:", "But let your Prince (our royal word upon it,", "He comes back safe) ride with us to our lines,", "And speak with Arac: Arac's word is thrice", "As ours with Ida: something may be done--", "I know not what--and ours shall see us friends.", "You, likewise, our late guests, if so you will,", "Follow us: who knows? we four may build some plan", "Foursquare to opposition.'", "Here he reached", "White hands of farewell to my sire, who growled", "An answer which, half-muffled in his beard,", "Let so much out as gave us leave to go.", "", "Then rode we with the old king across the lawns", "Beneath huge trees, a thousand rings of Spring", "In every bole, a song on every spray", "Of birds that piped their Valentines, and woke", "Desire in me to infuse my tale of love", "In the old king's ears, who promised help, and oozed", "All o'er with honeyed answer as we rode", "And blossom-fragrant slipt the heavy dews", "Gathered by night and peace, with each light air", "On our mailed heads: but other thoughts than Peace", "Burnt in us, when we saw the embattled squares,", "And squadrons of the Prince, trampling the flowers", "With clamour: for among them rose a cry", "As if to greet the king; they made a halt;", "The horses yelled; they clashed their arms; the drum", "Beat; merrily-blowing shrilled the martial fife;", "And in the blast and bray of the long horn", "And serpent-throated bugle, undulated", "The banner: anon to meet us lightly pranced", "Three captains out; nor ever had I seen", "Such thews of men: the midmost and the highest", "Was Arac: all about his motion clung", "The shadow of his sister, as the beam", "Of the East, that played upon them, made them glance", "Like those three stars of the airy Giant's zone,", "That glitter burnished by the frosty dark;", "And as the fiery Sirius alters hue,", "And bickers into red and emerald, shone", "Their morions, washed with morning, as they came.", "", "And I that prated peace, when first I heard", "War-music, felt the blind wildbeast of force,", "Whose home is in the sinews of a man,", "Stir in me as to strike: then took the king", "His three broad sons; with now a wandering hand", "And now a pointed finger, told them all:", "A common light of smiles at our disguise", "Broke from their lips, and, ere the windy jest", "Had laboured down within his ample lungs,", "The genial giant, Arac, rolled himself", "Thrice in the saddle, then burst out in words.", "", "'Our land invaded, 'sdeath! and he himself", "Your captive, yet my father wills not war:", "And, 'sdeath! myself, what care I, war or no?", "but then this question of your troth remains:", "And there's a downright honest meaning in her;", "She flies too high, she flies too high! and yet", "She asked but space and fairplay for her scheme;", "She prest and prest it on me--I myself,", "What know I of these things? but, life and soul!", "I thought her half-right talking of her wrongs;", "I say she flies too high, 'sdeath! what of that?", "I take her for the flower of womankind,", "And so I often told her, right or wrong,", "And, Prince, she can be sweet to those she loves,", "And, right or wrong, I care not: this is all,", "I stand upon her side: she made me swear it--", "'Sdeath--and with solemn rites by candle-light--", "Swear by St something--I forget her name--", "Her that talked down the fifty wisest men;", "~She~ was a princess too; and so I swore.", "Come, this is all; she will not: waive your claim:", "If not, the foughten field, what else, at once", "Decides it, 'sdeath! against my father's will.'", "", "I lagged in answer loth to render up", "My precontract, and loth by brainless war", "To cleave the rift of difference deeper yet;", "Till one of those two brothers, half aside", "And fingering at the hair about his lip,", "To prick us on to combat 'Like to like!", "The woman's garment hid the woman's heart.'", "A taunt that clenched his purpose like a blow!", "For fiery-short was Cyril's counter-scoff,", "And sharp I answered, touched upon the point", "Where idle boys are cowards to their shame,", "'Decide it here: why not? we are three to three.'", "", "Then spake the third 'But three to three? no more?", "No more, and in our noble sister's cause?", "More, more, for honour: every captain waits", "Hungry for honour, angry for his king.", "More, more some fifty on a side, that each", "May breathe himself, and quick! by overthrow", "Of these or those, the question settled die.'", "", "'Yea,' answered I, 'for this wreath of air,", "This flake of rainbow flying on the highest", "Foam of men's deeds--this honour, if ye will.", "It needs must be for honour if at all:", "Since, what decision? if we fail, we fail,", "And if we win, we fail: she would not keep", "Her compact.' ''Sdeath! but we will send to her,'", "Said Arac, 'worthy reasons why she should", "Bide by this issue: let our missive through,", "And you shall have her answer by the word.'", "", "'Boys!' shrieked the old king, but vainlier than a hen", "To her false daughters in the pool; for none", "Regarded; neither seemed there more to say:", "Back rode we to my father's camp, and found", "He thrice had sent a herald to the gates,", "To learn if Ida yet would cede our claim,", "Or by denial flush her babbling wells", "With her own people's life: three times he went:", "The first, he blew and blew, but none appeared:", "He battered at the doors; none came: the next,", "An awful voice within had warned him thence:", "The third, and those eight daughters of the plough", "Came sallying through the gates, and caught his hair,", "And so belaboured him on rib and cheek", "They made him wild: not less one glance he caught", "Through open doors of Ida stationed there", "Unshaken, clinging to her purpose, firm", "Though compassed by two armies and the noise", "Of arms; and standing like a stately Pine", "Set in a cataract on an island-crag,", "When storm is on the heights, and right and left", "Sucked from the dark heart of the long hills roll", "The torrents, dashed to the vale: and yet her will", "Bred will in me to overcome it or fall.", "", "But when I told the king that I was pledged", "To fight in tourney for my bride, he clashed", "His iron palms together with a cry;", "Himself would tilt it out among the lads:", "But overborne by all his bearded lords", "With reasons drawn from age and state, perforce", "He yielded, wroth and red, with fierce demur:", "And many a bold knight started up in heat,", "And sware to combat for my claim till death.", "", "All on this side the palace ran the field", "Flat to the garden-wall: and likewise here,", "Above the garden's glowing blossom-belts,", "A columned entry shone and marble stairs,", "And great bronze valves, embossed with Tomyris", "And what she did to Cyrus after fight,", "But now fast barred: so here upon the flat", "All that long morn the lists were hammered up,", "And all that morn the heralds to and fro,", "With message and defiance, went and came;", "Last, Ida's answer, in a royal hand,", "But shaken here and there, and rolling words", "Oration-like. I kissed it and I read.", "", "'O brother, you have known the pangs we felt,", "What heats of indignation when we heard", "Of those that iron-cramped their women's feet;", "Of lands in which at the altar the poor bride", "Gives her harsh groom for bridal-gift a scourge;", "Of living hearts that crack within the fire", "Where smoulder their dead despots; and of those,--", "Mothers,--that, with all prophetic pity, fling", "Their pretty maids in the running flood, and swoops", "The vulture, beak and talon, at the heart", "Made for all noble motion: and I saw", "That equal baseness lived in sleeker times", "With smoother men: the old leaven leavened all:", "Millions of throats would bawl for civil rights,", "No woman named: therefore I set my face", "Against all men, and lived but for mine own.", "Far off from men I built a fold for them:", "I stored it full of rich memorial:", "I fenced it round with gallant institutes,", "And biting laws to scare the beasts of prey", "And prospered; till a rout of saucy boys", "Brake on us at our books, and marred our peace,", "Masked like our maids, blustering I know not what", "Of insolence and love, some pretext held", "Of baby troth, invalid, since my will", "Sealed not the bond--the striplings! for their sport!--", "I tamed my leopards: shall I not tame these?", "Or you? or I? for since you think me touched", "In honour--what, I would not aught of false--", "Is not our case pure? and whereas I know", "Your prowess, Arac, and what mother's blood", "You draw from, fight; you failing, I abide", "What end soever: fail you will not. Still", "Take not his life: he risked it for my own;", "His mother lives: yet whatsoe'er you do,", "Fight and fight well; strike and strike him. O dear", "Brothers, the woman's Angel guards you, you", "The sole men to be mingled with our cause,", "The sole men we shall prize in the after-time,", "Your very armour hallowed, and your statues", "Reared, sung to, when, this gad-fly brushed aside,", "We plant a solid foot into the Time,", "And mould a generation strong to move", "With claim on claim from right to right, till she", "Whose name is yoked with children's, know herself;", "And Knowledge in our own land make her free,", "And, ever following those two crownèd twins,", "Commerce and conquest, shower the fiery grain", "Of freedom broadcast over all the orbs", "Between the Northern and the Southern morn.'", "", "Then came a postscript dashed across the rest.", "See that there be no traitors in your camp:", "We seem a nest of traitors--none to trust", "Since our arms failed--this Egypt-plague of men!", "Almost our maids were better at their homes,", "Than thus man-girdled here: indeed I think", "Our chiefest comfort is the little child", "Of one unworthy mother; which she left:", "She shall not have it back: the child shall grow", "To prize the authentic mother of her mind.", "I took it for an hour in mine own bed", "This morning: there the tender orphan hands", "Felt at my heart, and seemed to charm from thence", "The wrath I nursed against the world: farewell.'", "", "I ceased; he said, 'Stubborn, but she may sit", "Upon a king's right hand in thunder-storms,", "And breed up warriors! See now, though yourself", "Be dazzled by the wildfire Love to sloughs", "That swallow common sense, the spindling king,", "This Gama swamped in lazy tolerance.", "When the man wants weight, the woman takes it up,", "And topples down the scales; but this is fixt", "As are the roots of earth and base of all;", "Man for the field and woman for the hearth:", "Man for the sword and for the needle she:", "Man with the head and woman with the heart:", "Man to command and woman to obey;", "All else confusion. Look you! the gray mare", "Is ill to live with, when her whinny shrills", "From tile to scullery, and her small goodman", "Shrinks in his arm-chair while the fires of Hell", "Mix with his hearth: but you--she's yet a colt--", "Take, break her: strongly groomed and straitly curbed", "She might not rank with those detestable", "That let the bantling scald at home, and brawl", "Their rights and wrongs like potherbs in the street.", "They say she's comely; there's the fairer chance:", "~I~ like her none the less for rating at her!", "Besides, the woman wed is not as we,", "But suffers change of frame. A lusty brace", "Of twins may weed her of her folly. Boy,", "The bearing and the training of a child", "Is woman's wisdom.'", "Thus the hard old king:", "I took my leave, for it was nearly noon:", "I pored upon her letter which I held,", "And on the little clause 'take not his life:'", "I mused on that wild morning in the woods,", "And on the 'Follow, follow, thou shalt win:'", "I thought on all the wrathful king had said,", "And how the strange betrothment was to end:", "Then I remembered that burnt sorcerer's curse", "That one should fight with shadows and should fall;", "And like a flash the weird affection came:", "King, camp and college turned to hollow shows;", "I seemed to move in old memorial tilts,", "And doing battle with forgotten ghosts,", "To dream myself the shadow of a dream:", "And ere I woke it was the point of noon,", "The lists were ready. Empanoplied and plumed", "We entered in, and waited, fifty there", "Opposed to fifty, till the trumpet blared", "At the barrier like a wild horn in a land", "Of echoes, and a moment, and once more", "The trumpet, and again: at which the storm", "Of galloping hoofs bare on the ridge of spears", "And riders front to front, until they closed", "In conflict with the crash of shivering points,", "And thunder. Yet it seemed a dream, I dreamed", "Of fighting. On his haunches rose the steed,", "And into fiery splinters leapt the lance,", "And out of stricken helmets sprang the fire.", "Part sat like rocks: part reeled but kept their seats:", "Part rolled on the earth and rose again and drew:", "Part stumbled mixt with floundering horses. Down", "From those two bulks at Arac's side, and down", "From Arac's arm, as from a giant's flail,", "The large blows rained, as here and everywhere", "He rode the mellay, lord of the ringing lists,", "And all the plain,--brand, mace, and shaft, and shield--", "Shocked, like an iron-clanging anvil banged", "With hammers; till I thought, can this be he", "From Gama's dwarfish loins? if this be so,", "The mother makes us most--and in my dream", "I glanced aside, and saw the palace-front", "Alive with fluttering scarfs and ladies' eyes,", "And highest, among the statues, statuelike,", "Between a cymballed Miriam and a Jael,", "With Psyche's babe, was Ida watching us,", "A single band of gold about her hair,", "Like a Saint's glory up in heaven: but she", "No saint--inexorable--no tenderness--", "Too hard, too cruel: yet she sees me fight,", "Yea, let her see me fall! and with that I drave", "Among the thickest and bore down a Prince,", "And Cyril, one. Yea, let me make my dream", "All that I would. But that large-moulded man,", "His visage all agrin as at a wake,", "Made at me through the press, and, staggering back", "With stroke on stroke the horse and horseman, came", "As comes a pillar of electric cloud,", "Flaying the roofs and sucking up the drains,", "And shadowing down the champaign till it strikes", "On a wood, and takes, and breaks, and cracks, and splits,", "And twists the grain with such a roar that Earth", "Reels, and the herdsmen cry; for everything", "Game way before him: only Florian, he", "That loved me closer than his own right eye,", "Thrust in between; but Arac rode him down:", "And Cyril seeing it, pushed against the Prince,", "With Psyche's colour round his helmet, tough,", "Strong, supple, sinew-corded, apt at arms;", "But tougher, heavier, stronger, he that smote", "And threw him: last I spurred; I felt my veins", "Stretch with fierce heat; a moment hand to hand,", "And sword to sword, and horse to horse we hung,", "Till I struck out and shouted; the blade glanced,", "I did but shear a feather, and dream and truth", "Flowed from me; darkness closed me; and I fell.", "", "", "Home they brought her warrior dead:", "She nor swooned, nor uttered cry:", "All her maidens, watching, said,", "'She must weep or she will die.'", "", "Then they praised him, soft and low,", "Called 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 stept,", "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.'" ], "linecount": "558" }, { "title": "In Memoriam A. H. H.: 78. Again at Christmas did we weave", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "Again at Christmas did we weave", "The holly round the Christmas hearth;", "The silent snow possess'd the earth,", "And calmly fell our Christmas-eve:", "", "The yule-log sparkled keen with frost,", "No wing of wind the region swept,", "But over all things brooding slept", "The quiet sense of something lost.", "", "As in the winters left behind,", "Again our ancient games had place,", "The mimic picture's breathing grace,", "And dance and song and hoodman-blind.", "", "Who show'd a token of distress?", "No single tear, no mark of pain:", "O sorrow, then can sorrow wane?", "O grief, can grief be changed to less?", "", "O last regret, regret can die!", "No--mixt with all this mystic frame,", "Her deep relations are the same,", "But with long use her tears are dry." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Memoriam A. H. H.: 67. When on my bed the moonlight fall", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "When on my bed the moonlight falls,", "I know that in thy place of rest", "By that broad water of the west,", "There comes a glory on the walls:", "Thy marble bright in dark appears,", "As slowly steals a silver flame", "Along the letters of thy name,", "And o'er the number of thy years.", "The mystic glory swims away;", "From off my bed the moonlight dies;", "And closing eaves of wearied eyes", "I sleep till dusk is dipt in gray:", "", "And then I know the mist is drawn", "A lucid veil from coast to coast,", "And in the dark church like a ghost", "Thy tablet glimmers to the dawn." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "The Revenge - A Ballad of the Fleet", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay,", "And a pinnace, like a fluttered bird, came flying from far away:", "'Spanish ships of war at sea! we have sighted'", "Then sware Lord Thomas Howard: ''Fore God I am no coward;", "But I cannot meet them here, for my ships are out of gear,", "And the half my men are sick. I must fly, but follow quick.", "We are six ships of the line; can we fight with ?'", "", "Then spake Sir Richard Grenville: 'I know you are no coward;", "You fly them for a moment to fight with them again.", "But I've ninety men and more that are lying sick ashore.", "I should count myself the coward if I left them, my Lord Howard,", "To these Inquisition dogs and the devildoms of Spain.'", "", "So Lord Howard passed away with five ships of war that day,", "Till he melted like a cloud in the silent summer heaven;", "But Sir Richard bore in hand all his sick men from the land", "Very carefully and slow,", "Men of Bideford in Devon,", "And we laid them on the ballast down below;", "For we brought them all aboard,", "And they blest him in their pain, that they were not left to Spain,", "To the thumbscrew and the stake, for the glory of the Lord.", "", "He had only a hundred seamen to work the ship and to fight,", "And he sailed away from Flores till the Spaniard came in sight,", "With his huge sea-castles heaving upon the weather bow.", "'Shall we fight or shall we fly?", "Good Sir Richard, tell us now,", "For to fight is but to die!", "There'll be little of us left by the time this sun be set.'", "And Sir Richard said again: 'We be all good English men.", "Let us bang these dogs of Seville, the children of the devil,", "For I never turned my back upon Don or devil yet.'", "", "Sir Richard spoke and he laughed, and we roared a hurrah, and so", "The little Revenge ran on sheer into the heart of the foe,", "With her hundred fighters on deck, and her ninety sick below;", "For half of their fleet to the right and half to the left were seen,", "And the little Revenge ran on through the long sea-lane between.", "", "Thousands of their soldiers looked down from their decks and laughed,", "Thousands of their seamen made mock at the mad little craft", "Running on and on, till delayed", "By their mountain-like" ], "linecount": "40" } ]