Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems

<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><big>THE CHAPEL IN LYONESS</big></h2> <hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</SPAN></span></p> <h2>THE CHAPEL IN LYONESS</h2> <p class="head1">Sir Ozana le cure Hardy. Sir Galahad.<br/> Sir Bors de Ganys.</p> <div class="cpoem25"> <p class="head6"><span class="smcap">Sir Ozana.</span></p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="id0"><span class="dcap">A</span>LL day long and every day,<br/></span> <span class="id0">From Christmas-Eve to Whit-Sunday,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Within that Chapel-aisle I lay,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And no man came a-near.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Naked to the waist was I,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And deep within my breast did lie,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Though no man any blood could spy,<br/></span> <span class="i2">The truncheon of a spear.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">No meat did ever pass my lips<br/></span> <span class="i0">Those days. Alas! the sunlight slips<br/></span> <span class="i0">From off the gilded parclose, dips,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And night comes on apace.<br/></span><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">My arms lay back behind my head;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Over my raised-up knees was spread<br/></span> <span class="i0">A samite cloth of white and red;<br/></span> <span class="i2">A rose lay on my face.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Many a time I tried to shout;<br/></span> <span class="i0">But as in dream of battle-rout,<br/></span> <span class="i0">My frozen speech would not well out;<br/></span> <span class="i2">I could not even weep.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">With inward sigh I see the sun<br/></span> <span class="i0">Fade off the pillars one by one,<br/></span> <span class="i0">My heart faints when the day is done,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Because I cannot sleep.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Sometimes strange thoughts pass through my head;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Not like a tomb is this my bed,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Yet oft I think that I am dead;<br/></span> <span class="i2">That round my tomb is writ,<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">'Ozana of the hardy heart,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Knight of the Table Round,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Pray for his soul, lords, of your part;<br/></span> <span class="i2">A true knight he was found.'<br/></span><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</SPAN></span> <div class="rgt">[<i>He sleeps.</i></div> <span class="i0">Ah! me, I cannot fathom it.<br/></span></div> </div> <p class="head6"><span class="smcap">Sir Galahad.</span></p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">All day long and every day,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Till his madness pass'd away,<br/></span> <span class="i0">I watch'd Ozana as he lay<br/></span> <span class="i2">Within the gilded screen.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">All my singing moved him not;<br/></span> <span class="i0">As I sung my heart grew hot,<br/></span> <span class="i0">With the thought of Launcelot<br/></span> <span class="i2">Far away, I ween.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">So I went a little space<br/></span> <span class="i0">From out the chapel, bathed my face<br/></span> <span class="i0">In the stream that runs apace<br/></span> <span class="i2">By the churchyard wall.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">There I pluck'd a faint wild rose,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Hard by where the linden grows,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Sighing over silver rows<br/></span> <span class="i2">Of the lilies tall.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I laid the flower across his mouth;<br/></span> <span class="i0">The sparkling drops seem'd good for drouth;<br/></span><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</SPAN></span> <span class="i0">He smiled, turn'd round towards the south.<br/></span> <span class="i2">Held up a golden tress.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The light smote on it from the west;<br/></span> <span class="i0">He drew the covering from his breast,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Against his heart that hair he prest;<br/></span> <span class="i2">Death him soon will bless.<br/></span></div> </div> <p class="head6"><span class="smcap">Sir Bors.</span></p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I enter'd by the western door;<br/></span> <span class="i2">I saw a knight's helm lying there:<br/></span> <span class="i0">I raised my eyes from off the floor,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And caught the gleaming of his hair.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I stept full softly up to him;<br/></span> <span class="i2">I laid my chin upon his head;<br/></span> <span class="i0">I felt him smile; my eyes did swim,<br/></span> <span class="i2">I was so glad he was not dead.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I heard Ozana murmur low,<br/></span> <span class="i2">'There comes no sleep nor any love.'<br/></span> <span class="i0">But Galahad stoop'd and kiss'd his brow:<br/></span> <span class="i2">He shiver'd; I saw his pale lips move.<br/></span><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</SPAN></span></div> </div> <p class="head6"><span class="smcap">Sir Ozana.</span></p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">There comes no sleep nor any love;<br/></span> <span class="i2">Ah me! I shiver with delight.<br/></span> <span class="i0">I am so weak I cannot move;<br/></span> <span class="i2">God move me to thee, dear, to-night!<br/></span> <span class="i0">Christ help! I have but little wit:<br/></span> <span class="i0">My life went wrong; I see it writ,<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">'Ozana of the hardy heart,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Knight of the Table Round,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Pray for his soul, lords, on your part;<br/></span> <span class="i2">A good knight he was found.'<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="rgt">[<i>He dies.</i></div> <span class="i0">Now I begin to fathom it.<br/></span></div> </div> <p class="head6"><span class="smcap">Sir Bors.</span></p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Galahad sits dreamily;<br/></span> <span class="i0">What strange things may his eyes see,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Great blue eyes fix'd full on me?<br/></span> <span class="i0">On his soul, Lord, have mercy.<br/></span></div> </div> <p class="head6"><span class="smcap">Sir Galahad.</span></p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Ozana, shall I pray for thee?<br/></span> <span class="i0">Her cheek is laid to thine;<br/></span><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</SPAN></span> <span class="i0">No long time hence, also I see<br/></span> <span class="i2">Thy wasted fingers twine<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Within the tresses of her hair<br/></span> <span class="i2">That shineth gloriously,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Thinly outspread in the clear air<br/></span> <span class="i2">Against the jasper sea.<br/></span></div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />