Were apple-trees, and apples by the brook
Fallen, and on the lawns, 'I will rest here,'
I said, 'I am not worthy of the quest';
But even while I drank the brook, and ate
The goodly apples, all these things at once
Fell into dust, and I was left alone,

And thirsting, in a land of sand and thorns.

"And then behold a woman at a door Spinning, and fair the house whereby she sat; And kind the woman's eyes and innocent, And all her bearing gracious; and she rose Opening her arms to meet me, as who should say, 'Rest here,' but when I touched her, lo! she too Fell into dust and nothing, and the house Became no better than a broken shed,

And in it a dead babe; and also this

Fell into dust, and I was left alone.

"And on I rode, and greater was my thirst.

Then flash'd a yellow gleam across the world,
And where it smote the ploughshare in the field,
The ploughman left his ploughing, and fell down
Before it; where it glitter'd on her pail,
The milkmaid left her milking, and fell down
Before it, and I knew not why; but thought
'The sun is rising,' tho' the sun had risen.
Then was I ware of one that on me moved
In golden armor, with a crown of gold
About a casque all jewels; and his horse
In golden armor jewell'd everywhere:
And on the splendor came, flashing me blind;
And seem'd to me the Lord of all the world,
Being so huge: but when I thought he meant
To crush me, moving on me, lo! he too
Opened his arms to embrace me as he came,
And up I went and touch'd him, and he too
Fell into dust, and I was left alone

And wearied in a land of sand and thorns.

"And on I rode and found a mighty hill,

r

And on the top a city wall'd: the spires
Prick'd with incredible pinnacles into heaven.
And by the gateway stirr'd a crowd; and these
Cried to me, climbing, 'Welcome, Percivale!
Thou mightiest and thou purest among men!'
And glad was I and clomb, but found at top
No man, nor any voice; and thence I past

Far thro' a ruinous city, and I saw

That man had once dwelt there; but there I found

Only one man of an exceeding age.

Where is that goodly company,' said I,

That so cried upon me?' and he had

Scarce any voice to answer, and yet gasp'd

Whence and what art thou?' and even as he spoke

Fell into dust, and disappear'd, and I

Was left alone once more, and cried, in grief,

Lo, if I find the Holy Grail itself,

And touch it, it will crumble into dust.'

"And thence I dropt into a lowly vale,

Low as the hill was high, and where the vale

Was lowest found a chapel, and thereby

A holy hermit in a hermitage,

To whom I told my phantoms, and he said:

"O son, thou hast not true humility,

The highest virtue, mother of them all;
For when the Lord of all things made Himself
Naked of glory for His mortal change,
"Take thou my robe," she said, "for all is thine,"
And all her form shone forth with sudden light
So that the angels were amazed, and she
Follow'd him down, and like a flying star
Led on the gray-hair'd wisdom of the East;
But her thou hast not known: for what is this
Thou thoughtest of thy prowess and thy sins?
Thou hast not lost thyself to save thyself
As Galahad.' When the hermit made an end,
In silver armor suddenly Galahad shone

Before us, and against the chapel door

Laid lance, and entered, and we knelt in prayer.

And there the hermit slaked my burning thirst;

And at the sacring of the mass I saw

The holy elements alone; but he

Saw ye no more? I, Galahad, saw the Grail,

The Holy Grail, descend upon the shrine :

I saw the fiery face as of a child

That smote itself into the bread, and went,

And hither am I come; and never yet

Hath what thy sister taught me first to see,
This holy thing, fail'd from my side, nor come
Cover'd, but moving with me night and day,
Fainter by day, but always in the night
Blood-red, and sliding down the blacken'd marsh

Blood-red, and on the naked mountain top

Blood-red, and in the sleeping mere below

Blood-red: and in the strength of this I rode

Shattering all evil customs everywhere,

And past thro' Pagan realms, and made them mine,