Sir Palamedes

38 XIV Nortuwarp the good knight gallops fast, Resolved to seek his foe at home, When rose that Vision of the past, The royal battlements of Rome, A ruined city, and a dome. There in the broken Forum sat A red-robed robber in a Hat. “Whither away, Sir Knight, so fey?” “Priest, for the dove on Ararat T could not, nor I will not, stay!” “T know thy quest. Seek on in vain A golden hart with silver horns! Life springeth out of divers pains. What crown the King of Kings adorns? A crown of gems? A crown of thorns! The Questing Beast is like a king In face, and hath a pigeon’s wing And claw; its body is one fleece Of bloody white, a lamb’s in spring. Enough. Sir Knight, I give thee peace.”