6

"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 seen a sign;
Holier is none, my Percivale, 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 one, he learns, - and ye,

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

(For thus it pleased the king to range me close

1

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 seen, and all the blind will see.
Go, since your vows are sacred, being made, -
Yet, for ye know the cries of all my realm
Pass thro' this hall, how often, O my knights,
Your places being vacant at my side,
The 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.'

"So when the sun broke next from underground,

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 underground,

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,

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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 each 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 sorrow, and in the middle street the queen,
Who rode by Lancelot, wail'd and shriek'd aloud,
This madness has come on us for our sins.'
And then we reach'd the weirdly sculptured gate,
Where Arthur's wars were render'd mystically,
And thence departed every one his way.

"And I was lifted up in heart, and thought

Of all my late-shown prowess in the lists,
How my strong lance had beaten down the knights,
So many and famous names; and never yet

Had heaven appear'd so blue, nor earth so green,

For all my blood danced in me, and I knew
That I should light upon the Holy Grail.

"Thereafter, the dark warning of our king,
That most of us would follow wandering fires,
Came like a driving gloom across my mind.
Then every evil word I had spoken once,
And every evil thought I had thought of old,
And every evil deed I ever did,
Awoke and cried, 'This quest is not for thee.'
And lifting up mine eyes, I found myself
Alone, and in a land of sand and thorns,
And I was thirsty even unto death;
And I, too, cried, 'This quest is not for thee.'

"And on I rode, and when I thought my thirst Would slay me, saw deep lawns, and then a brook, With one sharp rapid, where the crisping white Play'd ever back upon the sloping wave,

And took both ear and eye; and o'er the brook