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…under-claps Smite him—insane—insane—insane |! His muscles roar with senseless rage; The pale knight staggers, deathly sick; Reels to the light that sorry sage, Sir Palamede the Lunatick.
Thou hast lied. I am the chosen knight To slay the Questing Beast for men ; I am the loyal son of light, Sir Palamede the Saracen ! Thou wast the subtlest fiend that yet Hath crossed my path. To say thee nay I dare not, but my sword is wet With thy knave’s blood, and with thy clay Fouled! Dost thou think to resurrect? O sweet Lord Christ that savest men! From all such fiends do thou protect Me, Palamede the Saracen!” 101
…one land where Druids dwell. There came an eagle from the height And bade him mount. From dale to dell They sank and soared. Last to the light Of the great sun himself they flew, Piercing the borders of the night, Passing the irremeable blue. Far into space beyond the stars At last they came. And there he knew All the blind reasonable bars Broken, and all the emotions stilled, And all the stains and all the scars Left him; so like a child he thrilled With utmost knowledge; all his soul, With perfect sense and sight fulfilled,
…And set a thousand ladies free. Armed to the teeth, the glittering knight Galloped along the sounding shore, His silver arms one lake of light, Their clash one symphony of war. How still the blue enamoured sea Lay in the blaze of Syria’s noon! The eternal roll eternally Beat out its monotonic tune. Sir Palamede the Saracen A dreadful vision here espied, A sight abhorred of gods and men, Between the limits of the tide. The dead man’s tongue was torn away; The dead man’s throat was slit across ; There flapped upon the putrid prey A carrion, screa…
…s on the fenceless foe; The sunset stains their hideous war With crimson bars of after-glow. He winds his horn : the night-stars leap To light ; upspring the sisters seven ; While answering flames illume the deep, The blue pavilions blaze to heaven. Silent and stern the northward way They ride; alone before his men Staggers through black to rose and grey Sir Palamede the Saracen.
…e hounds Are in his belly questeth he. Beneath him? Heareth he aright? He leaps to’s feet—a wonder shews: Steep dips a stairway from the light To what obscurity God knows. Still never a tremor shakes his soul (God praise thee, knight of adamant }) ; He plunges to that gruesome goal Firm as an old bull-elephant!
…uch a wonder hath been heard Since Christ our God’s sweet sacrifice. “Now, by the glad blood of our Lord!” Quoth Palamede, “ my heart is light. I am the chosen harpsichord Whereon God playeth ; the perfect knight,
…s might And courage vain. Yet ardours pour Through every artery. The knight Scales the Himalaya’s frozen sides, Crowned with illimitable light, And there in constant war abides, Smiting the spangles of the snow ; Smiting until the vernal tides Of earth leap high ; the steady flow Of sunlight splits the icy walls : They slide, they hurl the knight below. Sir Palamede the mighty falls Into an hollow where there dwelt A bearded crew of monachals Asleep in various visions spelt By mystic symbols unto men. But when a foreigner they smelt They drive …
82 Of light! How lucent is the fog! How noble is my cabbage-head ! How sweetly fragrant is the bog!” “God’s wounds!” (Sir Palamedes said), “What have I done to earn this portion? Must I, the clean knight born and bred, Sup with this filthy toad-abortion ?” Nathless he stayed with him awhile, Lest by disdain his mental torsion Slip back, or miss the serene smile Should crown his quest ; for (as one saith) The unknown may lurk within the vile. So he who sought the Beauteous Breath, Desired the Goodly Gift of Grace, Went equal into life and death,…
…sate; Nor quivered nerve, nor muscle stirred; While round them flapped insatiate The fell, abominable bird. But coldest horror drave the light From knightly eyes. How pale thy bloom, Thy blood, O brow whereon the night Sits like a serpent on a tomb! For Palamede those eyes beheld The iron image of his own ; On those dead brows a fate he spelled To strike a Gorgon into stone. He knew his father. Still he sate, Nor quivered nerve, nor muscle stirred ; While round them flapped insatiate The fell, abominable bird. The knight approves the justice do…
… untravelled land Where never a human soul is known, A desert by a wizard banned, A soulless wilderness of stone. Nor grass, nor corn, delight the vales ; Nor beast, nor bird, span space. Immense, Black rain, grey mist, white wrath of gales, Fill the dread armoury of sense. Nor shines the sun; nor moon, nor star Their subtle light at all display ; Nor day, nor night, dispute the scaur: All’s one intolerable grey. Black Ilyns, grey rocks, white hills of snow! No flower, no colour: life is not. This is no way for men to go From Severn-mouth to Ca…
… dreadful front uprears ! The tall towers blaze, to illume the fight; While many a myriad heathen spears March northward at the earliest light. Falls thy last comrade at thy feet, O lordly-souled Sir Palamede? Tearing the savage from his seat, He leaps upon a coal-black steed. He gallops raging through the press : The affrighted heathen fear his eye. There madness gleams, there masterless The whirling sword shrieks shrill and high, They shrink, he gallops. Closely clings The child slung at his waist; and he Heeds nought, but gallops wide, and s…
…d Wrapping the flaming sun with rose, They hide her from the hero’s sight. Then doth he muse thereat morose, When in one wild cascade of light The pageant breaks, and thunder roars: Down flaps the loathly wing of night. He sees the lonely Breton shores Lapped in the levin: then his eyes See how she shrieking soars and soars Into the starless, stormy skies. Well! well! this lesson will he learn, How music’s mellowing artifice May bid the breast of nature burn And call the gods from star and shrine. So now his sounding courses turn To find an ins…
The broad stair winds; he follows it; Dark is the way; the air is blind; Black, black the blackness of the pit, The light long blotted out behind! His sword sweeps out; his keen glance peers For some shape glimmering through the gloom: Naught, naught in all that void appears ; More still, more silent than the tomb! Yet now the good knight is aware Of some black force, of some dread throne, Waiting beneath that awful stair, Beneath that pit of slippery stone. Yea! though he sees not anything, Nor hears, his subtle sense is ’ware That, lackeyed b…
…, stumbling, he falleth. xix, Among the dunes of Brittany he findeth a witch dancing and conjuring, until she disappeareth in a blaze of light. He then learneth music, from a vile girl, until he is as skilful as Orpheus. In Paris he playeth in a public place. The people, at first throwing him coins, soon desert him to follow a foolish Egyptian wizard. No Beast cometh to his call. xx, He argueth out that there can be but one Beast. Following single tracks, he at length findeth the quarry, but on pursuit It eludeth him by multiplying itself. ‘Thi…