70
SIR PALAMEDES, THE SARACEN KNIGHT
For all these Paynim knights may rest
In the black bliss they struggle to.”
But from the earth’s full-flowered breast
Brake the blind roar of earthquake through,
Tearing the belly of its mother,
Engulphing all that heathen crew,
That cried and cursed on one another.
Aghast he standeth, Palamede !
For twinned with Earthquake laughs her brother
The Questing Beast. As Goddes reed
Sweats blood for sin, so now the heart
Of the good knight begins to bleed.
Of all the ruinous shafts that dart
Within his liver, this hath plied
The most intolerable smart.
“ By Goddes wounds!” the good knight cried,
“What is this quest, grown daily dafter,
Where nothing—nothing—may abide ?
Westward!” They fly, but rolling after
Echoes the Beast’s unsatisfied
And inextinguishable laughter!