Equinox I (04).pdf

Equinox I (04).pdf Equinox I (04).pdf

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96 XXXVII SIR PALAMEDE is sick to death! The staring eyen, the haggard face! God grant to him the Beauteous breath! God send the Goodly Gift of Grace! There is a white cave by the sea Wherein the knight is hid away. Just ere the night falls, spieth he The sun's last shaft flicker astray. All day is dark. There, there he mourns His wasted years, his purpose faint. A million whips, a million scorns Make the knight flinch, and stain the saint. For now! what hath he left? He feeds On limpets and wild roots. What odds? There is no need a mortal needs Who hath loosed man's hope to grasp at God’s! How his head swims! At night what stirs Above the faint wash of the tide, And rare sea-birds whose winging whirrs About the cliffs? Now good betide!

SIR PALAMEDES, THE SARACEN KNIGHT God save thee, woeful Palamede! The questing of the Beast is loud Within thy ear. By Goddes reed, Thou has won the tilt from all the crowd! Within thy proper bowels it sounds Mighty and musical at need, As if a thirty couple hounds Quested within thee, Palamede! Now, then, he grasps the desperate truth He hath toiled these many years to see, Hath wasted strength, hath wasted youth— He was the Beast; the Beast was he! He rises from the cave of death, Runs to the sea with shining face To know at last the Bounteous Breath, To taste the Goodly Gift of Grace. Ah! Palamede, thou has mistook! Thou art the butt of all confusion! Not to be written in my book Is this most drastic disillusion! So weak and ill was he, I doubt If he might hear the royal feast Of laughter that came rolling out Afar from that elusive Beast. 97

96<br />

XXXVII<br />

SIR PALAMEDE is sick to death!<br />

The staring eyen, the haggard face!<br />

God grant to him the Beauteous breath!<br />

God send the Goodly Gift of Grace!<br />

There is a white cave by the sea<br />

Wherein the knight is hid away.<br />

Just ere the night falls, spieth he<br />

The sun's last shaft flicker astray.<br />

All day is dark. There, there he mourns<br />

His wasted years, his purpose faint.<br />

A million whips, a million scorns<br />

Make the knight flinch, and stain the saint.<br />

For now! what hath he left? He feeds<br />

On limpets and wild roots. What odds?<br />

There is no need a mortal needs<br />

Who hath loosed man's hope to grasp at God’s!<br />

How his head swims! At night what stirs<br />

Above the faint wash of the tide,<br />

And rare sea-birds whose winging whirrs<br />

About the cliffs? Now good betide!

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