XVII
Sir PaLaMeDE hath told the tale
Of this misfortune to a sage,
How all his ventures nought avail,
And all his hopes dissolve in rage.
“Now by thine holy beard,” quoth he,
“ And by thy venerable age
I charge thee this my riddle ree.”
Then said that gentle eremite:
“This task is easy unto me!
Know then the Questing Beast aright!
One is the Beast, the Questing one:
And one with one is two, Sir Knight!
Yet these are one in two, and none
Disjoins their substance (mark me well !),
Confounds their persons. Rightly run
Their attributes: immeasurable,
Incomprehensibundable,
Unspeakable, inaudible,
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