When some brave deed seem'd to be done in vain,

Darken; and "Woe is me, my knights,” he cried, "Had I been here, ye had not sworn the vow."

Bold was mine answer, "Had thyself been here,

99

My King, thou wouldst have sworn.' "Yea, yea,"

said he,

"Art thou so bold and hast not seen the Grail?"

"Nay, Lord, I heard the sound, I saw the light,

But since I did not see the Holy Thing,

I sware a vow to follow it till I saw."

"Then when he asked us, knight by knight, if any

Had seen it, all their answers were as one:

"Nay, Lord, and therefore have we sworn our vows."

""Lo now," said Arthur, “have ye seen a cloud?

What go ye into the wilderness to see?"

Then Galahad on the sudden, and in a voice

Shrilling along the hall to Arthur, call'd,

"But I, Sir Arthur, saw the Holy Grail,

I saw the Holy Grail and heard a cry—

'O Galahad, and O Galahad, follow me.'"

"Ah, Galahad, Galahad," said the King, "for such

As thou art is the vision, not for these.

Thy holy nun and thou have scen a sign-
Holier is none, my Percivalo, than she-

A sign to maim this Order which I made.

But

you, that follow but the leader's bell"

(Brother, the King was hard upon his knights) "Taliessin is our fullest throat of song,

And one hath sung and all the dumb will sing.

Lancelot is Lancelot, and hath overborne

Five knights at once, and every younger knight,
Unproven, holds himself as Lancelot,

Till overborne by onc, he learns—and ye,

What are ye? Galahads?-no, nor Percivales"

(For thus it pleased the King to range me close

After Sir Galahad); "nay," said he, “but men
With strength and will to right the wrong'd, of power
To lay the sudden heads of violence flat,

Knights that in twelve great battles splash'd and dyed
The strong White Horse in his own heathen blood-

But one hath scon, and all tho blind will sco.

Go, since your vows aro sacred, being made:

Yet-for yo know the cries of all my realm

Pass thro' this hall-how often, O my knights,

Your places being vacant at my side,

This chance of noble deeds will come and

go

Unchallenged, while you follow wandering fires

Lost in the quagmire? Many of you, yea most,

Return no more: ye think I show myself

Too dark a prophet: come now,

let us meet

The morrow morn once more in one full field

Of gracious pastime, that once more the King,

Before you leave him for this Quest, may count

The yet-unbroken strength of all his knights,
Rejoicing in that Order which he made."

*

い

'So when the sun broke next from under ground,

All the great table of our Arthur closed

And clash'd in such a tourney and so full,

So many lances broken-never yet

Had Camelot seen the like, since Arthur came;

And I myself and Galahad, for a strength
Was in us from the vision, overthrew

So many knights that all the people cried,

And almost burst the barriers in their heat,

Shouting "Sir Galahad and Sir Percivale !"

'But when the next day brake from under ground

O brother, had you known our Camelot,

Built by old kings, age after age, so old

The King himself had fears that it would fall,

So strange, and rich, and dim; for where the roofs

Totter'd toward each other in the sky,

Met foreheads all along the street of those

Who watch'd us pass; and lower, and where the long

Rich galleries, lady-laden, weigh'd the necks

Of dragons clinging to the crazy walls,

Thicker than drops from thunder, showers of flowers

Fell as we past; and men and boys astride

On wyvern, lion, dragon, griffin, swan,

At all the corners, named us cach by name,
Calling "God speed !" but in the street below
The knights and ladies wept, and rich and poor
Wept, and the King himself could hardly speak
For grief, and in the middle street the Queen,
Who rode by Lancelot, wail'd and shriek'd aloud,