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Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems

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<hr style="width: 65%;" />[Pg 194] <h2>THE BLUE CLOSET</h2> <div class="cpoem30"> The Damozels. <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> LADY Alice, lady Louise, Between the wash of the tumbling seas We are ready to sing, if so ye please; So lay your long hands on the keys; Sing, Laudate pueri. </div> <div class="stanza"> And ever the great bell overhead Boom'd in the wind a knell for the dead, Though no one toll'd it, a knell for the dead. </div> </div> Lady Louise. <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> Sister, let the measure swell Not too loud; for you sing not well If you drown the faint boom of the bell; He is weary, so am I. [Pg 195]</div> <div class="stanza"> And ever the chevron overhead Flapped on the banner of the dead; (Was he asleep, or was he dead?) </div> </div> Lady Alice. <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> Alice the Queen, and Louise the Queen, Two damozels wearing purple and green, Four lone ladies dwelling here From day to day and year to year; And there is none to let us go; To break the locks of the doors below, Or shovel away the heaped-up snow; And when we die no man will know That we are dead; but they give us leave, Once every year on Christmas-eve, To sing in the Closet Blue one song; And we should be so long, so long, If we dared, in singing; for dream on dream, They float on in a happy stream; Float from the gold strings, float from the keys, Float from the open'd lips of Louise; But, alas! the sea-salt oozes through The chinks of the tiles of the Closet Blue; And ever the great bell overhead [Pg 196] Booms in the wind a knell for the dead, The wind plays on it a knell for the dead. </div> </div> They sing all together. <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> How long ago was it, how long ago, He came to this tower with hands full of snow? </div> <div class="stanza"> Kneel down, O love Louise, kneel down! he said, And sprinkled the dusty snow over my head. </div> <div class="stanza"> He watch'd the snow melting, it ran through my hair, Ran over my shoulders, white shoulders and bare. </div> <div class="stanza"> I cannot weep for thee, poor love Louise, For my tears are all hidden deep under the seas; </div> <div class="stanza"> In a gold and blue casket she keeps all my tears, But my eyes are no longer blue, as in old years; </div> <div class="stanza"> Yea, they grow grey with time, grow small and dry, I am so feeble now, would I might die. [Pg 197]</div> <div class="stanza"> And in truth the great bell overhead Left off his pealing for the dead, Perchance, because the wind was dead. </div> <div class="stanza"> Will he come back again, or is he dead? O! is he sleeping, my scarf round his head? </div> <div class="stanza"> Or did they strangle him as he lay there, With the long scarlet scarf I used to wear? </div> <div class="stanza"> Only I pray thee, Lord, let him come here! Both his soul and his body to me are most dear. </div> <div class="stanza"> Dear Lord, that loves me, I wait to receive Either body or spirit this wild Christmas-eve. </div> <div class="stanza"> Through the floor shot up a lily red, With a patch of earth from the land of the dead, For he was strong in the land of the dead. </div> <div class="stanza"> What matter that his cheeks were pale, His kind kiss'd lips all grey? O, love Louise, have you waited long? O, my lord Arthur, yea. [Pg 198]</div> <div class="stanza"> What if his hair that brush'd her cheek Was stiff with frozen rime? His eyes were grown quite blue again, As in the happy time. </div> <div class="stanza"> O, love Louise, this is the key Of the happy golden land! O, sisters, cross the bridge with me, My eyes are full of sand. What matter that I cannot see, If ye take me by the hand? </div> <div class="stanza"> And ever the great bell overhead, And the tumbling seas mourned for the dead; For their song ceased, and they were dead. </div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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