Collected Works (Vol. II)

50 ORACLES About each root, a grave, where Hell en- tombed A vampire till the night broke sepulchre And all its phantoms desperate and doomed Began to gather flesh, to breathe, to stir. Such was the path, yet hard should find the work Glamour, to weave her web of gossamer Over such eyesight as the Earl’s for murk. He had watched for larve by the midnight roads, The stake-transpiercéd corpse, the caves where lurk The demon spiders, and the shapeless toads Fed by their lovers duly on the draught That bloats and blisters, blackens and cor- rodes. These had he seen of old ; so now he laughed, Not without bitterness deep-lying, that erst He had esteemed such foolish devil’s craft Part of his quest, his quest when fair and first He flung the last, the strongest horseman back With such a buffet that no skill amerced Its debt but headlong in his charger’s track He must be hurled, rib-shattered bythe shock; And the loud populace exclaimed ‘‘ Alack !”, Their favourite foiled. stock Of holy kings from Christ to Charlemagne Hailed him, anointed him, fair lock by lock, But oh! the royal With oil that drew incalculable gain From those six olives in the midst whereof Christ prayed the last time, erethe fatal Wain! Stood in the sky reversed, and utmost Love Entered the sadness of Gethsemane. So did the king ; so did the priest above 1 Charles’ Wain—Ursa Major. silly legend to this effect. There is a Place his old hands upon the Earl’s, decree The splendid and the solemn accolade That he should go forth to the world and be Knight-errant ; so did then the fairest maid Of all that noble company keep hid ‘ The love that melted her ; she took the blade Blessed by a mage, who slew the harmless kid With solemn rite and water poured athwart In stars and sigils,—fire leapt out amid, And blazed upon the blade; and stark cold Swart Demons came hurtling to enforce the spell, Until the exorcisms duly wrought Fixed in the living steel so terrible A force nor man nor devil might assail, Nay— might approach the wary warrior we}., So long as he was clothed in silver mail Of purity, and iron-helmeted With ignorance of fear : so through the hail Of flowers, of cries, of looks, of white and re«', Fear, hatred, envy, love—nay, self-conceit Of girls that preened itself and masqued in- stead Of love—he rode with head deep bowed— too sweet, Too solemn at that moment to respond, Or even to lift his evening eyes to greet The one he knew was nearest—too, too fond! He dared not—not for his sake but for hers. So he bent down, and passed away beyond In space, in time. [The myriad ministers Of God, seeing her soul, prayed God to send One spirit yet to turn him—subtly stirs The eternal glory of God’s mouth ; “‘ The end Ts not, nor the beginning.” Such the speech Our language fashions down —to compre- hend. ]