{ "id": "alfred-lord-tennyson/the-holy-grail", "title": "The Holy Grail", "ordinal": null, "subtitle": null, "poet": "Alfred, Lord Tennyson", "poet_slug": "alfred-lord-tennyson", "language": "en", "book": "Idylls of the King", "book_slug": "idylls-of-the-king", "book_kind": "volume", "sequence": 9, "container": null, "epigraph": null, "first_published": { "year": 1885, "venue": "Idylls of the King (1885)", "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.", "uncertain": false, "sources": [ "https://archive.org/details/idyllsofking00tenn", "https://github.com/standardebooks/alfred-lord-tennyson_idylls-of-the-king", "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/610" ] }, "source": { "kind": "standard-ebooks", "repo": "standardebooks/alfred-lord-tennyson_idylls-of-the-king", "file": "the-holy-grail.xhtml", "upstream": [ "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/610", "https://archive.org/details/idyllsofking00tenn", "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/101901267" ], "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)" }, "verification": { "level": "structural-only", "last_checked": "2026-08-20" }, "stats": { "n_lines": 920, "n_stanzas": 61, "n_parts": 0, "longest_line_chars": 58, "max_indent": 0 }, "site_ready": true, "parts": [], "stanzas": [ [ { "text": "From noiseful arms, and acts of prowess done", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In tournament or tilt, Sir Percivale,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Whom Arthur and his knighthood called The Pure,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Had passed into the silent life of prayer,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Praise, fast, and alms; and leaving for the cowl", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The helmet in an abbey far away", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "From Camelot, there, and not long after, died.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "And one, a fellow-monk among the rest,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Ambrosius, loved him much beyond the rest,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And honoured him, and wrought into his heart", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A way by love that wakened love within,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To answer that which came: and as they sat", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Beneath a world-old yew-tree, darkening half", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The cloisters, on a gustful April morn", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That puffed the swaying branches into smoke", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Above them, ere the summer when he died", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The monk Ambrosius questioned Percivale:", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“O brother, I have seen this yew-tree smoke,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Spring after spring, for half a hundred years:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For never have I known the world without,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Nor ever strayed beyond the pale: but thee,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "When first thou camest⁠—such a courtesy", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Spake through the limbs and in the voice⁠—I knew", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For one of those who eat in Arthur’s hall;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For good ye are and bad, and like to coins,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Some true, some light, but every one of you", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Stamped with the image of the King; and now", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Tell me, what drove thee from the Table Round,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "My brother? was it earthly passion crost?”", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“Nay,” said the knight; “for no such passion mine.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But the sweet vision of the Holy Grail", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Drove me from all vainglories, rivalries,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And earthly heats that spring and sparkle out", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Among us in the jousts, while women watch", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Who wins, who falls; and waste the spiritual strength", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Within us, better offered up to Heaven.”", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "To whom the monk: “The Holy Grail!⁠—I trust", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "We are green in Heaven’s eyes; but here too much", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "We moulder⁠—as to things without I mean⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Yet one of your own knights, a guest of ours,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Told us of this in our refectory,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But spake with such a sadness and so low", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "We heard not half of what he said. What is it?", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The phantom of a cup that comes and goes?”", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“Nay, monk! what phantom?” answered Percivale.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "“The cup, the cup itself, from which our Lord", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Drank at the last sad supper with his own.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "This, from the blessed land of Aromat⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "After the day of darkness, when the dead", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Went wandering o’er Moriah⁠—the good saint", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Arimathaean Joseph, journeying brought", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To Glastonbury, where the winter thorn", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Blossoms at Christmas, mindful of our Lord.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And there awhile it bode; and if a man", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Could touch or see it, he was healed at once,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "By faith, of all his ills. But then the times", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Grew to such evil that the holy cup", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Was caught away to Heaven, and disappeared.”", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "To whom the monk: “From our old books I know", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That Joseph came of old to Glastonbury,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And there the heathen Prince, Arviragus,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Gave him an isle of marsh whereon to build;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And there he built with wattles from the marsh", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A little lonely church in days of yore,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For so they say, these books of ours, but seem", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Mute of this miracle, far as I have read.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But who first saw the holy thing today?”", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“A woman,” answered Percivale, “a nun,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And one no further off in blood from me", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Than sister; and if ever holy maid", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "With knees of adoration wore the stone,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A holy maid; though never maiden glowed,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But that was in her earlier maidenhood,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "With such a fervent flame of human love,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Which being rudely blunted, glanced and shot", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Only to holy things; to prayer and praise", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "She gave herself, to fast and alms. And yet,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Nun as she was, the scandal of the Court,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Sin against Arthur and the Table Round,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And the strange sound of an adulterous race,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Across the iron grating of her cell", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Beat, and she prayed and fasted all the more.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“And he to whom she told her sins, or what", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Her all but utter whiteness held for sin,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A man wellnigh a hundred winters old,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Spake often with her of the Holy Grail,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A legend handed down through five or six,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And each of these a hundred winters old,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "From our Lord’s time. And when King Arthur made", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "His Table Round, and all men’s hearts became", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Clean for a season, surely he had thought", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That now the Holy Grail would come again;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But sin broke out. Ah, Christ, that it would come,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And heal the world of all their wickedness!", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘O Father!’ asked the maiden, ‘might it come", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To me by prayer and fasting?’ ‘Nay,’ said he,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘I know not, for thy heart is pure as snow.’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And so she prayed and fasted, till the sun", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Shone, and the wind blew, through her, and I thought", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "She might have risen and floated when I saw her.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“For on a day she sent to speak with me.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And when she came to speak, behold her eyes", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Beyond my knowing of them, beautiful,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Beyond all knowing of them, wonderful,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Beautiful in the light of holiness.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And ‘O my brother Percivale,’ she said,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘Sweet brother, I have seen the Holy Grail:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For, waked at dead of night, I heard a sound", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "As of a silver horn from o’er the hills", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Blown, and I thought, “It is not Arthur’s use", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To hunt by moonlight;” and the slender sound", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "As from a distance beyond distance grew", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Coming upon me⁠—O never harp nor horn,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Nor aught we blow with breath, or touch with hand,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Was like that music as it came; and then", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Streamed through my cell a cold and silver beam,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And down the long beam stole the Holy Grail,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Rose-red with beatings in it, as if alive,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Till all the white walls of my cell were dyed", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "With rosy colours leaping on the wall;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And then the music faded, and the Grail", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Past, and the beam decayed, and from the walls", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The rosy quiverings died into the night.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "So now the Holy Thing is here again", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Among us, brother, fast thou too and pray,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And tell thy brother knights to fast and pray,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That so perchance the vision may be seen", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "By thee and those, and all the world be healed.’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“Then leaving the pale nun, I spake of this", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To all men; and myself fasted and prayed", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Always, and many among us many a week", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Fasted and prayed even to the uttermost,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Expectant of the wonder that would be.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“And one there was among us, ever moved", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Among us in white armour, Galahad.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘God make thee good as thou art beautiful,’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Said Arthur, when he dubbed him knight; and none,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In so young youth, was ever made a knight", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Till Galahad; and this Galahad, when he heard", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "My sister’s vision, filled me with amaze;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "His eyes became so like her own, they seemed", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Hers, and himself her brother more than I.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“Sister or brother none had he; but some", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Called him a son of Lancelot, and some said", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Begotten by enchantment⁠—chatterers they,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Like birds of passage piping up and down,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That gape for flies⁠—we know not whence they come;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For when was Lancelot wanderingly lewd?", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“But she, the wan sweet maiden, shore away", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Clean from her forehead all that wealth of hair", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Which made a silken mat-work for her feet;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And out of this she plaited broad and long", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A strong sword-belt, and wove with silver thread", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And crimson in the belt a strange device,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A crimson grail within a silver beam;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And saw the bright boy-knight, and bound it on him,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Saying, ‘My knight, my love, my knight of heaven,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "O thou, my love, whose love is one with mine,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "I, maiden, round thee, maiden, bind my belt.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Go forth, for thou shalt see what I have seen,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And break through all, till one will crown thee king", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Far in the spiritual city:’ and as she spake", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "She sent the deathless passion in her eyes", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Through him, and made him hers, and laid her mind", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "On him, and he believed in her belief.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“Then came a year of miracle: O brother,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In our great hall there stood a vacant chair,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Fashioned by Merlin ere he past away,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And carven with strange figures; and in and out", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The figures, like a serpent, ran a scroll", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Of letters in a tongue no man could read.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And Merlin called it ‘The Siege perilous,’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Perilous for good and ill; ‘for there,’ he said,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘No man could sit but he should lose himself:’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And once by misadvertence Merlin sat", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In his own chair, and so was lost; but he,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Galahad, when he heard of Merlin’s doom,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Cried, ‘If I lose myself, I save myself!’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“Then on a summer night it came to pass,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "While the great banquet lay along the hall,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That Galahad would sit down in Merlin’s chair.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“And all at once, as there we sat, we heard", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A cracking and a riving of the roofs,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And rending, and a blast, and overhead", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Thunder, and in the thunder was a cry.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And in the blast there smote along the hall", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A beam of light seven times more clear than day:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And down the long beam stole the Holy Grail", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "All over covered with a luminous cloud.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And none might see who bare it, and it past.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But every knight beheld his fellow’s face", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "As in a glory, and all the knights arose,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And staring each at other like dumb men", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Stood, till I found a voice and sware a vow.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“I sware a vow before them all, that I,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Because I had not seen the Grail, would ride", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A twelvemonth and a day in quest of it,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Until I found and saw it, as the nun", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "My sister saw it; and Galahad sware the vow,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And good Sir Bors, our Lancelot’s cousin, sware,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And Lancelot sware, and many among the knights,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And Gawain sware, and louder than the rest.”", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "Then spake the monk Ambrosius, asking him,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "“What said the King? Did Arthur take the vow?”", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“Nay, for my lord,” said Percivale, “the King,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Was not in hall: for early that same day,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Scaped through a cavern from a bandit hold,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "An outraged maiden sprang into the hall", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Crying on help: for all her shining hair", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Was smeared with earth, and either milky arm", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Red-rent with hooks of bramble, and all she wore", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Torn as a sail that leaves the rope is torn", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In tempest: so the King arose and went", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To smoke the scandalous hive of those wild bees", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That made such honey in his realm. Howbeit", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Some little of this marvel he too saw,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Returning o’er the plain that then began", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To darken under Camelot; whence the King", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Looked up, calling aloud, ‘Lo, there! the roofs", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Of our great hall are rolled in thunder-smoke!", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Pray Heaven, they be not smitten by the bolt.’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For dear to Arthur was that hall of ours,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "As having there so oft with all his knights", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Feasted, and as the stateliest under heaven.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“O brother, had you known our mighty hall,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Which Merlin built for Arthur long ago!", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For all the sacred mount of Camelot,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And all the dim rich city, roof by roof,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Tower after tower, spire beyond spire,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "By grove, and garden-lawn, and rushing brook,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Climbs to the mighty hall that Merlin built.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And four great zones of sculpture, set betwixt", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "With many a mystic symbol, gird the hall:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And in the lowest beasts are slaying men,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And in the second men are slaying beasts,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And on the third are warriors, perfect men,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And on the fourth are men with growing wings,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And over all one statue in the mould", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Of Arthur, made by Merlin, with a crown,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And peaked wings pointed to the Northern Star.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And eastward fronts the statue, and the crown", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And both the wings are made of gold, and flame", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "At sunrise till the people in far fields,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Wasted so often by the heathen hordes,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Behold it, crying, ‘We have still a King.’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“And, brother, had you known our hall within,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Broader and higher than any in all the lands!", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Where twelve great windows blazon Arthur’s wars,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And all the light that falls upon the board", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Streams through the twelve great battles of our King.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Nay, one there is, and at the eastern end,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Wealthy with wandering lines of mount and mere,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Where Arthur finds the brand Excalibur.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And also one to the west, and counter to it,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And blank: and who shall blazon it? when and how?⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "O there, perchance, when all our wars are done,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The brand Excalibur will be cast away.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“So to this hall full quickly rode the King,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In horror lest the work by Merlin wrought,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Dreamlike, should on the sudden vanish, wrapt", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In unremorseful folds of rolling fire.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And in he rode, and up I glanced, and saw", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The golden dragon sparkling over all:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And many of those who burnt the hold, their arms", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Hacked, and their foreheads grimed with smoke, and seared,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Followed, and in among bright faces, ours,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Full of the vision, prest: and then the King", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Spake to me, being nearest, ‘Percivale,’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "(Because the hall was all in tumult⁠—some", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Vowing, and some protesting), ‘what is this?’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“O brother, when I told him what had chanced,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "My sister’s vision, and the rest, his face", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Darkened, as I have seen it more than once,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "When some brave deed seemed to be done in vain,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Darken; and ‘Woe is me, my knights,’ he cried,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘Had I been here, ye had not sworn the vow.’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Bold was mine answer, ‘Had thyself been here,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "My King, thou wouldst have sworn.’ ‘Yea, yea,’ said he,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘Art thou so bold and hast not seen the Grail?’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“ ‘Nay, lord, I heard the sound, I saw the light,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But since I did not see the Holy Thing,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "I sware a vow to follow it till I saw.’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“Then when he asked us, knight by knight, if any", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Had seen it, all their answers were as one:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘Nay, lord, and therefore have we sworn our vows.’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“ ‘Lo now,’ said Arthur, ‘have ye seen a cloud?", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "What go ye into the wilderness to see?’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“Then Galahad on the sudden, and in a voice", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Shrilling along the hall to Arthur, called,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘But I, Sir Arthur, saw the Holy Grail,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "I saw the Holy Grail and heard a cry⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "“O Galahad, and O Galahad, follow me.” ’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“ ‘Ah, Galahad, Galahad,’ said the King, ‘for such", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "As thou art is the vision, not for these.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Thy holy nun and thou have seen a sign⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Holier is none, my Percivale, than she⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A sign to maim this Order which I made.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But ye, that follow but the leader’s bell’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "(Brother, the King was hard upon his knights)", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘Taliessin is our fullest throat of song,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And one hath sung and all the dumb will sing.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Lancelot is Lancelot, and hath overborne", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Five knights at once, and every younger knight,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Unproven, holds himself as Lancelot,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Till overborne by one, he learns⁠—and ye,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "What are ye? Galahads?⁠—no, nor Percivales’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "(For thus it pleased the King to range me close", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "After Sir Galahad); ‘nay,’ said he, ‘but men", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "With strength and will to right the wronged, of power", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To lay the sudden heads of violence flat,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Knights that in twelve great battles splashed and dyed", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The strong White Horse in his own heathen blood⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But one hath seen, and all the blind will see.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Go, since your vows are sacred, being made:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Yet⁠—for ye know the cries of all my realm", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Pass through this hall⁠—how often, O my knights,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Your places being vacant at my side,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "This chance of noble deeds will come and go", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Unchallenged, while ye follow wandering fires", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Lost in the quagmire! Many of you, yea most,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Return no more: ye think I show myself", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Too dark a prophet: come now, let us meet", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The morrow morn once more in one full field", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Of gracious pastime, that once more the King,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Before ye leave him for this Quest, may count", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The yet-unbroken strength of all his knights,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Rejoicing in that Order which he made.’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“So when the sun broke next from under ground,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "All the great table of our Arthur closed", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And clashed in such a tourney and so full,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "So many lances broken⁠—never yet", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Had Camelot seen the like, since Arthur came;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And I myself and Galahad, for a strength", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Was in us from this vision, overthrew", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "So many knights that all the people cried,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And almost burst the barriers in their heat,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Shouting, ‘Sir Galahad and Sir Percivale!’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“But when the next day brake from under ground⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "O brother, had you known our Camelot,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Built by old kings, age after age, so old", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The King himself had fears that it would fall,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "So strange, and rich, and dim; for where the roofs", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Tottered toward each other in the sky,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Met foreheads all along the street of those", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Who watched us pass; and lower, and where the long", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Rich galleries, lady-laden, weighed the necks", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Of dragons clinging to the crazy walls,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Thicker than drops from thunder, showers of flowers", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Fell as we past; and men and boys astride", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "On wyvern, lion, dragon, griffin, swan,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "At all the corners, named us each by name,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Calling, ‘God speed!’ but in the ways below", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The knights and ladies wept, and rich and poor", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Wept, and the King himself could hardly speak", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For grief, and all in middle street the Queen,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Who rode by Lancelot, wailed and shrieked aloud,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘This madness has come on us for our sins.’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "So to the Gate of the three Queens we came,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Where Arthur’s wars are rendered mystically,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And thence departed every one his way.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“And I was lifted up in heart, and thought", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Of all my late-shown prowess in the lists,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "How my strong lance had beaten down the knights,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "So many and famous names; and never yet", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Had heaven appeared so blue, nor earth so green,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For all my blood danced in me, and I knew", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That I should light upon the Holy Grail.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“Thereafter, the dark warning of our King,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That most of us would follow wandering fires,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Came like a driving gloom across my mind.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Then every evil word I had spoken once,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And every evil thought I had thought of old,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And every evil deed I ever did,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Awoke and cried, ‘This Quest is not for thee.’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And lifting up mine eyes, I found myself", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Alone, and in a land of sand and thorns,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And I was thirsty even unto death;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And I, too, cried, ‘This Quest is not for thee.’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“And on I rode, and when I thought my thirst", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Would slay me, saw deep lawns, and then a brook,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "With one sharp rapid, where the crisping white", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Played ever back upon the sloping wave,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And took both ear and eye; and o’er the brook", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Were apple-trees, and apples by the brook", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Fallen, and on the lawns. ‘I will rest here,’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "I said, ‘I am not worthy of the Quest;’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But even while I drank the brook, and ate", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The goodly apples, all these things at once", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Fell into dust, and I was left alone,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And thirsting, in a land of sand and thorns.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“And then behold a woman at a door", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Spinning; and fair the house whereby she sat,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And kind the woman’s eyes and innocent,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And all her bearing gracious; and she rose", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Opening her arms to meet me, as who should say,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘Rest here;’ but when I touched her, lo! she, too,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Fell into dust and nothing, and the house", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Became no better than a broken shed,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And in it a dead babe; and also this", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Fell into dust, and I was left alone.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“And on I rode, and greater was my thirst.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Then flashed a yellow gleam across the world,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And where it smote the plowshare in the field,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The plowman left his plowing, and fell down", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Before it; where it glittered on her pail,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The milkmaid left her milking, and fell down", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Before it, and I knew not why, but thought", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘The sun is rising,’ though the sun had risen.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Then was I ware of one that on me moved", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In golden armour with a crown of gold", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "About a casque all jewels; and his horse", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In golden armour jewelled everywhere:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And on the splendour came, flashing me blind;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And seemed to me the Lord of all the world,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Being so huge. But when I thought he meant", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To crush me, moving on me, lo! he, too,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Opened his arms to embrace me as he came,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And up I went and touched him, and he, too,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Fell into dust, and I was left alone", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And wearying in a land of sand and thorns.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“And I rode on and found a mighty hill,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And on the top, a city walled: the spires", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Pricked with incredible pinnacles into heaven.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And by the gateway stirred a crowd; and these", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Cried to me climbing, ‘Welcome, Percivale!", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Thou mightiest and thou purest among men!’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And glad was I and clomb, but found at top", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "No man, nor any voice. And thence I past", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Far through a ruinous city, and I saw", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That man had once dwelt there; but there I found", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Only one man of an exceeding age.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘Where is that goodly company,’ said I,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘That so cried out upon me?’ and he had", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Scarce any voice to answer, and yet gasped,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘Whence and what art thou?’ and even as he spoke", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Fell into dust, and disappeared, and I", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Was left alone once more, and cried in grief,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘Lo, if I find the Holy Grail itself", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And touch it, it will crumble into dust.’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“And thence I dropt into a lowly vale,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Low as the hill was high, and where the vale", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Was lowest, found a chapel, and thereby", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A holy hermit in a hermitage,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To whom I told my phantoms, and he said:", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“ ‘O son, thou hast not true humility,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The highest virtue, mother of them all;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For when the Lord of all things made Himself", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Naked of glory for His mortal change,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "“Take thou my robe,” she said, “for all is thine,”", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And all her form shone forth with sudden light", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "So that the angels were amazed, and she", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Followed Him down, and like a flying star", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Led on the gray-haired wisdom of the east;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But her thou hast not known: for what is this", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Thou thoughtest of thy prowess and thy sins?", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Thou hast not lost thyself to save thyself", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "As Galahad.’ When the hermit made an end,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In silver armour suddenly Galahad shone", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Before us, and against the chapel door", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Laid lance, and entered, and we knelt in prayer.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And there the hermit slaked my burning thirst,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And at the sacring of the mass I saw", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The holy elements alone; but he,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘Saw ye no more? I, Galahad, saw the Grail,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The Holy Grail, descend upon the shrine:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "I saw the fiery face as of a child", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That smote itself into the bread, and went;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And hither am I come; and never yet", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Hath what thy sister taught me first to see,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "This Holy Thing, failed from my side, nor come", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Covered, but moving with me night and day,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Fainter by day, but always in the night", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Blood-red, and sliding down the blackened marsh", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Blood-red, and on the naked mountain top", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Blood-red, and in the sleeping mere below", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Blood-red. And in the strength of this I rode,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Shattering all evil customs everywhere,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And past through Pagan realms, and made them mine,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And clashed with Pagan hordes, and bore them down,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And broke through all, and in the strength of this", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Come victor. But my time is hard at hand,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And hence I go; and one will crown me king", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Far in the spiritual city; and come thou, too,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For thou shalt see the vision when I go.’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“While thus he spake, his eye, dwelling on mine,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Drew me, with power upon me, till I grew", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "One with him, to believe as he believed.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Then, when the day began to wane, we went.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“There rose a hill that none but man could climb,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Scarred with a hundred wintry water-courses⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Storm at the top, and when we gained it, storm", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Round us and death; for every moment glanced", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "His silver arms and gloomed: so quick and thick", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The lightnings here and there to left and right", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Struck, till the dry old trunks about us, dead,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Yea, rotten with a hundred years of death,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Sprang into fire: and at the base we found", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "On either hand, as far as eye could see,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A great black swamp and of an evil smell,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Part black, part whitened with the bones of men,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Not to be crost, save that some ancient king", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Had built a way, where, linked with many a bridge,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A thousand piers ran into the great Sea.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And Galahad fled along them bridge by bridge,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And every bridge as quickly as he crost", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Sprang into fire and vanished, though I yearned", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To follow; and thrice above him all the heavens", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Opened and blazed with thunder such as seemed", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Shoutings of all the sons of God: and first", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "At once I saw him far on the great Sea,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In silver-shining armour starry-clear;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And o’er his head the Holy Vessel hung", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Clothed in white samite or a luminous cloud.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And with exceeding swiftness ran the boat,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "If boat it were⁠—I saw not whence it came.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And when the heavens opened and blazed again", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Roaring, I saw him like a silver star⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And had he set the sail, or had the boat", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Become a living creature clad with wings?", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And o’er his head the Holy Vessel hung", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Redder than any rose, a joy to me,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For now I knew the veil had been withdrawn.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Then in a moment when they blazed again", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Opening, I saw the least of little stars", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Down on the waste, and straight beyond the star", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "I saw the spiritual city and all her spires", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And gateways in a glory like one pearl⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "No larger, though the goal of all the saints⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Strike from the sea; and from the star there shot", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A rose-red sparkle to the city, and there", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Dwelt, and I knew it was the Holy Grail,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Which never eyes on earth again shall see.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Then fell the floods of heaven drowning the deep.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And how my feet recrost the deathful ridge", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "No memory in me lives; but that I touched", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The chapel-doors at dawn I know; and thence", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Taking my warhorse from the holy man,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Glad that no phantom vext me more, returned", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To whence I came, the gate of Arthur’s wars.”", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“O brother,” asked Ambrosius⁠—“for in sooth", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "These ancient books⁠—and they would win thee⁠—teem,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Only I find not there this Holy Grail,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "With miracles and marvels like to these,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Not all unlike; which oftentime I read,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Who read but on my breviary with ease,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Till my head swims; and then go forth and pass", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Down to the little thorpe that lies so close,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And almost plastered like a martin’s nest", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To these old walls⁠—and mingle with our folk;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And knowing every honest face of theirs", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "As well as ever shepherd knew his sheep,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And every homely secret in their hearts,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Delight myself with gossip and old wives,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And ills and aches, and teethings, lyings-in,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And mirthful sayings, children of the place,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That have no meaning half a league away:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Or lulling random squabbles when they rise,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Chafferings and chatterings at the market-cross,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Rejoice, small man, in this small world of mine,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Yea, even in their hens and in their eggs⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "O brother, saving this Sir Galahad,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Came ye on none but phantoms in your quest,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "No man, no woman?”", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "Then Sir Percivale:", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "“All men, to one so bound by such a vow,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And women were as phantoms. O, my brother,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Why wilt thou shame me to confess to thee", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "How far I faltered from my quest and vow?", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "For after I had lain so many nights", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "A bedmate of the snail and eft and snake,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "In grass and burdock, I was changed to wan", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And meagre, and the vision had not come;", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And then I chanced upon a goodly town", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "With one great dwelling in the middle of it;", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Thither I made, and there was I disarmed", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "By maidens each as fair as any flower:", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "But when they led me into hall, behold,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "The Princess of that castle was the one,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Brother, and that one only, who had ever", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Made my heart leap; for when I moved of old", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "A slender page about her father’s hall,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And she a slender maiden, all my heart", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Went after her with longing: yet we twain", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Had never kissed a kiss, or vowed a vow.", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And now I came upon her once again,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And one had wedded her, and he was dead,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And all his land and wealth and state were hers.", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And while I tarried, every day she set", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "A banquet richer than the day before", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "By me; for all her longing and her will", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Was toward me as of old; till one fair morn,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "I walking to and fro beside a stream", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "That flashed across her orchard underneath", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Her castle-walls, she stole upon my walk,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And calling me the greatest of all knights,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Embraced me, and so kissed me the first time,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And gave herself and all her wealth to me.", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Then I remembered Arthur’s warning word,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "That most of us would follow wandering fires,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And the Quest faded in my heart. Anon,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "The heads of all her people drew to me,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "With supplication both of knees and tongue:", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "‘We have heard of thee: thou art our greatest knight,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Our Lady says it, and we well believe:", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Wed thou our Lady, and rule over us,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And thou shalt be as Arthur in our land.’", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "O me, my brother! but one night my vow", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Burnt me within, so that I rose and fled,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "But wailed and wept, and hated mine own self,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And even the Holy Quest, and all but her;", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Then after I was joined with Galahad", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Cared not for her, nor anything upon earth.”", "indent": 0, "align": "right" } ], [ { "text": "Then said the monk, “Poor men, when yule is cold,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Must be content to sit by little fires.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And this am I, so that ye care for me", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Ever so little; yea, and blest be Heaven", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That brought thee here to this poor house of ours", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Where all the brethren are so hard, to warm", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "My cold heart with a friend: but O the pity", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To find thine own first love once more⁠—to hold,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Hold her a wealthy bride within thine arms,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Or all but hold, and then⁠—cast her aside,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Foregoing all her sweetness, like a weed.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For we that want the warmth of double life,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "We that are plagued with dreams of something sweet", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Beyond all sweetness in a life so rich⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Ah, blessed Lord, I speak too earthlywise,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Seeing I never strayed beyond the cell,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But live like an old badger in his earth,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "With earth about him everywhere, despite", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "All fast and penance. Saw ye none beside,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "None of your knights?”", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“Yea so,” said Percivale:", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "“One night my pathway swerving east, I saw", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "The pelican on the casque of our Sir Bors", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "All in the middle of the rising moon:", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And toward him spurred, and hailed him, and he me,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And each made joy of either; then he asked,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "‘Where is he? hast thou seen him⁠—Lancelot?⁠—Once,’", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Said good Sir Bors, ‘he dashed across me⁠—mad,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And maddening what he rode: and when I cried,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "“Ridest thou then so hotly on a quest", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "So holy,” Lancelot shouted, “stay me not!", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "I have been the sluggard, and I ride apace,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "For now there is a lion in the way.”", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "So vanished.’", "indent": 0, "align": "right" } ], [ { "text": "“Then Sir Bors had ridden on", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Softly, and sorrowing for our Lancelot,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Because his former madness, once the talk", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And scandal of our table, had returned;", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "For Lancelot’s kith and kin so worship him", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "That ill to him is ill to them; to Bors", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Beyond the rest: he well had been content", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Not to have seen, so Lancelot might have seen,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "The Holy Cup of healing; and, indeed,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Being so clouded with his grief and love,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Small heart was his after the Holy Quest:", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "If God would send the vision, well: if not,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "The Quest and he were in the hands of Heaven.", "indent": 0, "align": "right" } ], [ { "text": "“And then, with small adventure met, Sir Bors", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Rode to the lonest tract of all the realm,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And found a people there among their crags,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Our race and blood, a remnant that were left", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Paynim amid their circles, and the stones", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "They pitch up straight to heaven: and their wise men", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Were strong in that old magic which can trace", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The wandering of the stars, and scoffed at him", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And this high Quest as at a simple thing:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Told him he followed⁠—almost Arthur’s words⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A mocking fire: ‘what other fire than he,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Whereby the blood beats, and the blossom blows,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And the sea rolls, and all the world is warmed?’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And when his answer chafed them, the rough crowd,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Hearing he had a difference with their priests,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Seized him, and bound and plunged him into a cell", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Of great piled stones; and lying bounden there", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In darkness through innumerable hours", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "He heard the hollow-ringing heavens sweep", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Over him till by miracle⁠—what else?⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Heavy as it was, a great stone slipt and fell,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Such as no wind could move: and through the gap", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Glimmered the streaming scud: then came a night", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Still as the day was loud; and through the gap", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The seven clear stars of Arthur’s Table Round⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For, brother, so one night, because they roll", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Through such a round in heaven, we named the stars,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Rejoicing in ourselves and in our King⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And these, like bright eyes of familiar friends,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In on him shone: ‘And then to me, to me,’", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Said good Sir Bors, ‘beyond all hopes of mine,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Who scarce had prayed or asked it for myself⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Across the seven clear stars⁠—O grace to me⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In colour like the fingers of a hand", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Before a burning taper, the sweet Grail", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Glided and past, and close upon it pealed", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A sharp quick thunder.’ Afterwards, a maid,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Who kept our holy faith among her kin", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In secret, entering, loosed and let him go.”", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "To whom the monk: “And I remember now", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That pelican on the casque: Sir Bors it was", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Who spake so low and sadly at our board;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And mighty reverent at our grace was he:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A square-set man and honest; and his eyes,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "An out-door sign of all the warmth within,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Smiled with his lips⁠—a smile beneath a cloud,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But heaven had meant it for a sunny one:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Ay, ay, Sir Bors, who else? But when ye reached", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The city, found ye all your knights returned,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Or was there sooth in Arthur’s prophecy,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Tell me, and what said each, and what the King?”", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "Then answered Percivale: “And that can I,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Brother, and truly; since the living words", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Of so great men as Lancelot and our King", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Pass not from door to door and out again,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But sit within the house. O, when we reached", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The city, our horses stumbling as they trode", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "On heaps of ruin, hornless unicorns,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Cracked basilisks, and splintered cockatrices,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And shattered talbots, which had left the stones", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Raw, that they fell from, brought us to the hall.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“And there sat Arthur on the dais-throne,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And those that had gone out upon the Quest,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Wasted and worn, and but a tithe of them,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And those that had not, stood before the King,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Who, when he saw me, rose, and bad me hail,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Saying, ‘A welfare in thine eye reproves", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Our fear of some disastrous chance for thee", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "On hill, or plain, at sea, or flooding ford.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "So fierce a gale made havoc here of late", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Among the strange devices of our kings;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Yea, shook this newer, stronger hall of ours,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And from the statue Merlin moulded for us", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Half-wrenched a golden wing; but now⁠—the Quest,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "This vision⁠—hast thou seen the Holy Cup,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That Joseph brought of old to Glastonbury?’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“So when I told him all thyself hast heard,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Ambrosius, and my fresh but fixt resolve", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To pass away into the quiet life,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "He answered not, but, sharply turning, asked", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Of Gawain, ‘Gawain, was this Quest for thee?’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“ ‘Nay, lord,’ said Gawain, ‘not for such as I.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Therefore I communed with a saintly man,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Who made me sure the Quest was not for me;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "For I was much awearied of the Quest:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But found a silk pavilion in a field,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And merry maidens in it; and then this gale", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Tore my pavilion from the tenting-pin,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And blew my merry maidens all about", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "With all discomfort; yea, and but for this,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "My twelvemonth and a day were pleasant to me.’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“He ceased; and Arthur turned to whom at first", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "He saw not, for Sir Bors, on entering, pushed", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Athwart the throng to Lancelot, caught his hand,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Held it, and there, half-hidden by him, stood,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Until the King espied him, saying to him,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘Hail, Bors! if ever loyal man and true", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Could see it, thou hast seen the Grail;’ and Bors,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘Ask me not, for I may not speak of it:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "I saw it;’ and the tears were in his eyes.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“Then there remained but Lancelot, for the rest", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Spake but of sundry perils in the storm;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Perhaps, like him of Cana in Holy Writ,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Our Arthur kept his best until the last;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘Thou, too, my Lancelot,’ asked the king, ‘my friend,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Our mightiest, hath this Quest availed for thee?’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“ ‘Our mightiest!’ answered Lancelot, with a groan;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘O King!’⁠—and when he paused, methought I spied", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A dying fire of madness in his eyes⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘O King, my friend, if friend of thine I be,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Happier are those that welter in their sin,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Swine in the mud, that cannot see for slime,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Slime of the ditch: but in me lived a sin", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "So strange, of such a kind, that all of pure,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Noble, and knightly in me twined and clung", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Round that one sin, until the wholesome flower", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And poisonous grew together, each as each,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Not to be plucked asunder; and when thy knights", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Sware, I sware with them only in the hope", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That could I touch or see the Holy Grail", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "They might be plucked asunder. Then I spake", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To one most holy saint, who wept and said,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That save they could be plucked asunder, all", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "My quest were but in vain; to whom I vowed", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That I would work according as he willed.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And forth I went, and while I yearned and strove", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To tear the twain asunder in my heart,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "My madness came upon me as of old,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And whipt me into waste fields far away;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "There was I beaten down by little men,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Mean knights, to whom the moving of my sword", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And shadow of my spear had been enow", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To scare them from me once; and then I came", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "All in my folly to the naked shore,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Wide flats, where nothing but coarse grasses grew;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But such a blast, my King, began to blow,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "So loud a blast along the shore and sea,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Ye could not hear the waters for the blast,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Though heapt in mounds and ridges all the sea", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Drove like a cataract, and all the sand", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Swept like a river, and the clouded heavens", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Were shaken with the motion and the sound.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And blackening in the sea-foam swayed a boat,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Half-swallowed in it, anchored with a chain;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And in my madness to myself I said,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "“I will embark and I will lose myself,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And in the great sea wash away my sin.”", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "I burst the chain, I sprang into the boat.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Seven days I drove along the dreary deep,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And with me drove the moon and all the stars;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And the wind fell, and on the seventh night", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "I heard the shingle grinding in the surge,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And felt the boat shock earth, and looking up,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Behold, the enchanted towers of Carbonek,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A castle like a rock upon a rock,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "With chasm-like portals open to the sea,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And steps that met the breaker! there was none", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Stood near it but a lion on each side", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That kept the entry, and the moon was full.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Then from the boat I leapt, and up the stairs.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "There drew my sword. With sudden-flaring manes", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Those two great beasts rose upright like a man,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Each gript a shoulder, and I stood between;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And, when I would have smitten them, heard a voice,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "“Doubt not, go forward; if thou doubt, the beasts", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Will tear thee piecemeal.” Then with violence", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The sword was dashed from out my hand, and fell.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And up into the sounding hall I past;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But nothing in the sounding hall I saw,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "No bench nor table, painting on the wall", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Or shield of knight; only the rounded moon", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Through the tall oriel on the rolling sea.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But always in the quiet house I heard,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Clear as a lark, high o’er me as a lark,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A sweet voice singing in the topmost tower", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To the eastward: up I climbed a thousand steps", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "With pain: as in a dream I seemed to climb", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Forever: at the last I reached a door,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A light was in the crannies, and I heard,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "“Glory and joy and honour to our Lord", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And to the Holy Vessel of the Grail.”", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Then in my madness I essayed the door;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "It gave; and through a stormy glare, a heat", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "As from a seventimes-heated furnace, I,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Blasted and burnt, and blinded as I was,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "With such a fierceness that I swooned away⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "O, yet methought I saw the Holy Grail,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "All palled in crimson samite, and around", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Great angels, awful shapes, and wings and eyes.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And but for all my madness and my sin,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And then my swooning, I had sworn I saw", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That which I saw; but what I saw was veiled", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And covered; and this Quest was not for me.’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“So speaking, and here ceasing, Lancelot left", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "The hall long silent, till Sir Gawain⁠—nay,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Brother, I need not tell thee foolish words⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "A reckless and irreverent knight was he,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Now boldened by the silence of his King⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Well, I will tell thee: ‘O King, my liege,’ he said,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "‘Hath Gawain failed in any quest of thine?", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "When have I stinted stroke in foughten field?", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But as for thine, my good friend Percivale,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Thy holy nun and thou have driven men mad,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Yea, made our mightiest madder than our least.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But by mine eyes and by mine ears I swear,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "I will be deafer than the blue-eyed cat,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And thrice as blind as any noonday owl,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To holy virgins in their ecstasies,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Henceforward.’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“ ‘Deafer,’ said the blameless King,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "‘Gawain, and blinder unto holy things", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Hope not to make thyself by idle vows,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Being too blind to have desire to see.", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "But if indeed there came a sign from heaven,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "Blessed are Bors, Lancelot and Percivale,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "For these have seen according to their sight.", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "For every fiery prophet in old times,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And all the sacred madness of the bard,", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "When God made music through them, could but speak", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "His music by the framework and the chord;", "indent": 0, "align": "right" }, { "text": "And as ye saw it ye have spoken truth.", "indent": 0, "align": "right" } ], [ { "text": "“ ‘Nay⁠—but thou errest, Lancelot: never yet", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Could all of true and noble in knight and man", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Twine round one sin, whatever it might be,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "With such a closeness, but apart there grew,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Save that he were the swine thou spakest of,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Some root of knighthood and pure nobleness;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Whereto see thou, that it may bear its flower.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“ ‘And spake I not too truly, O my knights?", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Was I too dark a prophet when I said", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To those who went upon the Holy Quest,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That most of them would follow wandering fires,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Lost in the quagmire?⁠—lost to me and gone,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And left me gazing at a barren board,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And a lean Order⁠—scarce returned a tithe⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And out of those to whom the vision came", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "My greatest hardly will believe he saw;", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Another hath beheld it afar off,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And leaving human wrongs to right themselves,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Cares but to pass into the silent life.", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And one hath had the vision face to face,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And now his chair desires him here in vain,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "However they may crown him otherwhere.", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“ ‘And some among you held, that if the King", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Had seen the sight he would have sworn the vow:", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Not easily, seeing that the King must guard", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "That which he rules, and is but as the hind", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "To whom a space of land is given to plow,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Who may not wander from the allotted field", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Before his work be done; but, being done,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Let visions of the night or of the day", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Come, as they will; and many a time they come,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Until this earth he walks on seems not earth,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "This light that strikes his eyeball is not light,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "This air that smites his forehead is not air", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "But vision⁠—yea, his very hand and foot⁠—", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "In moments when he feels he cannot die,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "And knows himself no vision to himself,", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Nor the high God a vision, nor that One", "indent": 0 }, { "text": "Who rose again: ye have seen what ye have seen.’", "indent": 0 } ], [ { "text": "“So spake the King: I knew not all he meant.”", "indent": 0 } ] ] }