FOLLOW A WORD THROUGH THE COLLECTION
Search the corpus.
Phrase search ignores case and repeated whitespace. All-words search finds whole words anywhere on the same page. OCR errors can affect results.
17 matching pages
Page 1 of 11912 · PDF PAGE 115
…Sits on the gay knights, one and all ; Till Arthur: “ Of your chivalry, Knights, let us drink the happiness Of the one knight we lack ” (quoth he) ; “ For surely in some sore distress May be Sir Palamede.” Then they Rose as one man in glad liesse To honour that great health. ‘“God’s way Is not as man’s” (quoth Lancelot). “Yet, may God send him back this day, His quest achieved, to Camelot!” “ Amen!” they cried, and raised the bow! ; When—the wind rose, a blast as hot 109
1912 · PDF PAGE 51
…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, Un…
1912 · PDF PAGE 74
… sand Open his eyes; the surf-rings roar. What snorts there, swimming from the land? The Beast that brought him to the shore! “O Beast!” quoth purple Palamede, “ A morister strange as Thou am I. I could not live before, indeed; And now I cannot even die! Who chose me, of the Table Round By miracle acclaimed the chief ? Here, waterlogged and muscle-bound, Marooned upon a coral reef!”
1912 · PDF PAGE 71
XXIV “ One thing at least ” (quoth Palamede), “Beyond dispute my soul can see: This Questing Beast that mocks my need Dwelleth in deep obscurity.” So delveth he a darksome hole Within the bowels of Etna dense, Closing the harbour of his soul To all the pirate-ships of sense. And now the questing of the Beast Rolls in his very self, and high Leaps his whole heart in fiery feast On the expected ecstasy. But echoing from the central roar Reverberates many a mournful moan, And shapes more mystic than before Baffle its formless monotone! Ah! mocks h…
1912 · PDF PAGE 95
…me to mine ancient place! I am advantaged nothing then!” Then swooped he from the Byss of Space, And set the knight amid the fen. “God!” quoth Sir Palamede, “that I Who have won nine should fail at ten! I set my all upon the die: There is no further trick to try. Call thrice accurséd above men Sir Palamede the Saracen!”
1912 · PDF PAGE 96
go XXXV “Yea!” quoth the knight, “TI rede the spell. This Beast is the Unknowable. I seek in Heaven, I seek in Hell; Ever he mocks me. Yet, methinks, I have the riddle of the Sphinx. For were I keener than the lynx I should not see within my mind One thought that is not in its kind In sooth That Beast that lurks behind : And in my quest his questing seems The authentic echo of my dreams, The proper thesis of my themes! Iknow him? Still he answers: No! I know him not? Maybe—and lo! He is the one sole thing I know! Nay! who knows not is different…
1912 · PDF PAGE 108
…r Palamedes was too wise To mock their gentle wooing; He smiles into their sparkling eyes While they his armour are undoing. “ For who” (quoth he) “ may say that this Is not the mystery I miss?” Soon he is gathered in the dance, And smothered in the flowers.
1912 · PDF PAGE 82
… wand, and dead men rise. No such 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,
1912 · PDF PAGE 53
By simple faith, not heathen might, Catch him, and thus achieve the quest!” Then quoth that melancholy wight: “T will believe!” The hermit blessed His convert : on the horizon Appears the Beast. ‘To thee the rest!” He cries, to urge the good knight on. But no! Sir Palamedes grips The hermit by the woebegone Beard of him; then away he rips, Wood as a maniac, to the West, Where down the sun in splendour slips, And where the quarry of the quest Canters. They run lik e hippogriffs! Like men pursued, or swine possessed, Over the dizzy Cretan cliffs …
1912 · PDF PAGE 56
…ntil with magic speed they ply Like oars the snowy waves, surpass In one day’s march the galaxy Of Europe’s starry mountain mass. “Now,” quoth he, “let me find the quest!” The Beast sterte up. Sir Knight, alas! Day after day they race, nor rest Till seven days were fairly done. Then doth the Questing Marvel crest The ridge: the knight is well outrun. Now, adding laughter to its din, Like some lewd comet at the sun, Around the panting paladin It runs with all its splendid speed. Yet, knowing that he may not win,
1912 · PDF PAGE 91
…nashing his teeth, he still confessed The might of the dread oath that bound him: He would not yet give up the quest. “Nay! while I am,” quoth he, “ though Hell Engulph me, though God mock me well, I follow as I sware; I follow, Though it be unattainable. Nay, more! Because I may not win, Is’t worth man’s work to enter in! The Infinite with mighty passion Hath caught my spirit in a gin. Come! since I may not imitate The Beast, at least I work and wait. We shall discover soon or late Which is the master—I or Fate!” 85
1912 · PDF PAGE 83
…e, His soul whipped in God’s bitter school! (He moaned a mighty malison !) The perfect knight? The perfect fool! “Now, by God’s wounds!” quoth he, “my strength Is burnt out to a pest of pains. Let me fling off my curse at length In old Chaldea’s starry plains! Thou blesséd Jesus, foully nailed Unto the cruel Calvary tree, Look on my soul’s poor fort assailed By all the hosts of devilry ! Is there no medicine but death That shall avail me in my place, That I may know the Beauteous Breath And taste the Goodly Gift of Grace? Keep Thou yet firm thi…
1912 · PDF PAGE 100
94 He woke. Before him stands and grins A motley hunchback. “Knave!” quoth he, “Hast seen the Beast? The quest that wins The loftiest prize of chivalry >?” Sir Knight,” he answers, “hast thou seen Aught of that Beast? How knowest thou, then, That it is ever or hath been, Sir Palamede the Saracen?” Sir Palamede was well awake. “Nay! I deliberate deep and long, Yet find no answer fit to make To thee. The weak beats down the strong; The fool’s cap shames the helm. But thou! I know thee for the shade that haunts My way, sets shame upon my brow, My …
1912 · PDF PAGE 47
“We burn,” quoth he, “no futile fires, Nor play upon an idle reed, Nor penance vain, nor fatuous prayers— The Gods are ours, and we are theirs.” Sir Palamedes plucks the pipe The satyr tends, and blows a trill So soft and warm, so red and ripe, That echo answers from the hill In eager and voluptuous strain, While grows upon the sounding plain A gallop, and a questing turned To one profound melodious bay. Sir Palamede with pleasure burned, And bowed him to the idol grey That on the altar sneered and leered With loose red lips behind his beard. S…
1912 · PDF PAGE 106
…hat knight. His lance-head fairly struck The barred strength of his morion, And rolled the stranger in the muck. “ Now, by God’s death!” quoth Palamede, His sword at work, “I will not leave So much of thee as God might feed His sparrows with. As I believe The sweet Christ’s mercy shall avail, So will I not have aught for thee ; Since every bone of thee may rail Against me, crying treachery.
1912 · PDF PAGE 93
…uple hounds Were in his belly! Knight, awake! Ah! well he woke! His love and scorn Grapple in death-throe at his throat. “Lead me away” (quoth he), “ my men! Woe, woe is me was ever born So blind a bat, so gross a goat, As Palamede the Saracen !” 87
1912 · PDF PAGE 110
…mmeasurable, immutable, immense Beyond all the wonder that his soul had won By sense, in spite of sense, and beyond sense. “Praise God!” quoth Palamede, “ by this I attain the uttermost of bliss. . . . God’s wounds! but that I never sought. The Questing Beast I sware to attain And all this miracle is naught. Off on my travels once again ! I keep my youth regained to foil Old Time that took me in his toil. I keep my strength regained to chase The Beast that mocks me now as then Dear Christ! I pray Thee of Thy grace Take pity on the forlorn case …