第56章 The Holy Grail(3)

And many of those who burnt the hold,their arms Hacked,and their foreheads grimed with smoke,and seared,Followed,and in among bright faces,ours,Full of the vision,prest:and then the King Spake to me,being nearest,"Percivale,"(Because the hall was all in tumult--some Vowing,and some protesting),"what is this?"'O brother,when I told him what had chanced,My sister's vision,and the rest,his face Darkened,as I have seen it more than once,When some brave deed seemed to be done in vain,Darken;and "Woe is me,my knights,"he cried,"Had I been here,ye had not sworn the vow."Bold was mine answer,"Had thyself been here,My King,thou wouldst have sworn.""Yea,yea,"said he,"Art thou so bold and hast not seen the Grail?"'"Nay,lord,I heard the sound,I saw the light,But since I did not see the Holy Thing,I sware a vow to follow it till I saw."'Then when he asked us,knight by knight,if any Had seen it,all their answers were as one:

"Nay,lord,and therefore have we sworn our vows."'"Lo now,"said Arthur,"have ye seen a cloud?

What go ye into the wilderness to see?"

'Then Galahad on the sudden,and in a voice Shrilling along the hall to Arthur,called,"But I,Sir Arthur,saw the Holy Grail,I saw the Holy Grail and heard a cry--'O Galahad,and O Galahad,follow me.'"

'"Ah,Galahad,Galahad,"said the King,"for such As thou art is the vision,not for these.

Thy holy nun and thou have seen a sign--

Holier is none,my Percivale,than she--

A sign to maim this Order which I made.

But ye,that follow but the leader's bell"

(Brother,the King was hard upon his knights)"Taliessin is our fullest throat of song,And one hath sung and all the dumb will sing.

Lancelot is Lancelot,and hath overborne Five knights at once,and every younger knight,Unproven,holds himself as Lancelot,Till overborne by one,he learns--and ye,What are ye?Galahads?--no,nor Percivales"(For thus it pleased the King to range me close After Sir Galahad);"nay,"said he,"but men With strength and will to right the wronged,of power To lay the sudden heads of violence flat,Knights that in twelve great battles splashed and dyed The strong White Horse in his own heathen blood--But one hath seen,and all the blind will see.

Go,since your vows are sacred,being made:

Yet--for ye know the cries of all my realm Pass through this hall--how often,O my knights,Your places being vacant at my side,This chance of noble deeds will come and go Unchallenged,while ye follow wandering fires Lost in the quagmire!Many of you,yea most,Return no more:ye think I show myself Too dark a prophet:come now,let us meet The morrow morn once more in one full field Of gracious pastime,that once more the King,Before ye leave him for this Quest,may count The yet-unbroken strength of all his knights,Rejoicing in that Order which he made."'So when the sun broke next from under ground,All the great table of our Arthur closed And clashed in such a tourney and so full,So many lances broken--never yet Had Camelot seen the like,since Arthur came;And I myself and Galahad,for a strength Was in us from this vision,overthrew So many knights that all the people cried,And almost burst the barriers in their heat,Shouting,"Sir Galahad and Sir Percivale!"'But when the next day brake from under ground--O brother,had you known our Camelot,Built by old kings,age after age,so old The King himself had fears that it would fall,So strange,and rich,and dim;for where the roofs Tottered toward each other in the sky,Met foreheads all along the street of those Who watched us pass;and lower,and where the long Rich galleries,lady-laden,weighed the necks Of dragons clinging to the crazy walls,Thicker than drops from thunder,showers of flowers Fell as we past;and men and boys astride On wyvern,lion,dragon,griffin,swan,At all the corners,named us each by name,Calling,"God speed!"but in the ways below The knights and ladies wept,and rich and poor Wept,and the King himself could hardly speak For grief,and all in middle street the Queen,Who rode by Lancelot,wailed and shrieked aloud,"This madness has come on us for our sins."So to the Gate of the three Queens we came,Where Arthur's wars are rendered mystically,And thence departed every one his way.

'And I was lifted up in heart,and thought Of all my late-shown prowess in the lists,How my strong lance had beaten down the knights,So many and famous names;and never yet Had heaven appeared so blue,nor earth so green,For all my blood danced in me,and I knew That I should light upon the Holy Grail.

'Thereafter,the dark warning of our King,That most of us would follow wandering fires,Came like a driving gloom across my mind.

Then every evil word I had spoken once,And every evil thought I had thought of old,And every evil deed I ever did,Awoke and cried,"This Quest is not for thee."And lifting up mine eyes,I found myself Alone,and in a land of sand and thorns,And I was thirsty even unto death;And I,too,cried,"This Quest is not for thee."'And on I rode,and when I thought my thirst Would slay me,saw deep lawns,and then a brook,With one sharp rapid,where the crisping white Played ever back upon the sloping wave,And took both ear and eye;and o'er the brook Were apple-trees,and apples by the brook Fallen,and on the lawns."I will rest here,"I said,"I am not worthy of the Quest;"

But even while I drank the brook,and ate The goodly apples,all these things at once Fell into dust,and I was left alone,And thirsting,in a land of sand and thorns.

'And then behold a woman at a door Spinning;and fair the house whereby she sat,And kind the woman's eyes and innocent,And all her bearing gracious;and she rose Opening her arms to meet me,as who should say,"Rest here;"but when I touched her,lo!she,too,Fell into dust and nothing,and the house Became no better than a broken shed,And in it a dead babe;and also this Fell into dust,and I was left alone.

'And on I rode,and greater was my thirst.