Ban and Arriere Ban [4]
her,
The griefs that leave her grey,
The flesh that yet enchains her
Whose grace hath passed away!
Oh, happier he who gains not
The Love some seem to gain:
The joy that custom stains not
Shall still with him remain,
The loveliness that wanes not,
The Love that ne'er can wane.
In dreams she grows not older
The lands of Dream among,
Though all the world wax colder,
Though all the songs be sung,
In dreams doth he behold her
Still fair and kind and young.
THE PROMISE OF HELEN
Whom hast thou longed for most,
True love of mine?
Whom hast thou loved and lost?
Lo, she is thine!
She that another wed
Breaks from her vow;
She that hath long been dead
Wakes for thee now.
Dreams haunt the hapless bed,
Ghosts haunt the night,
Life crowns her living head,
Love and Delight.
Nay, not a dream nor ghost,
Nay, but Divine,
She that was loved and lost
Waits to be thine!
THE RESTORATION OF ROMANCE.
TO H. R. H., R. L. S., A. C. D., AND S. W.
King Romance was wounded deep,
All his knights were dead and gone,
All his court was fallen on sleep,
In a vale of Avalon!
Nay, men said, he will not come,
Any night or any morn.
Nay, his puissant voice is dumb,
Silent his enchanted horn!
King Romance was forfeited,
Banished from his Royal home,
With a price upon his head,
Driven with sylvan folk to roam.
King Romance is fallen, banned,
Cried his foemen overbold,
Broken is the wizard wand,
All the stories have been told!
Then you came from South and North,
From Tugela, from the Tweed,
Blazoned his achievements forth,
King Romance is come indeed!
All his foes are overthrown,
All their wares cast out in scorn,
King Romance hath won his own,
And the lands where he was born!
Marsac at adventure rides,
Felon men meet felon scathe,
Micah Clarke is taking sides
For King Monmouth and the Faith;
For a Cause or for a lass
Men are willing to be slain,
And the dungeons of the Bass
Hold a prisoner again.
King Romance with wand of gold
Sways the realms he ruled of yore.
Hills Dalgetty roamed of old,
Valleys of enchanted Kor:
Waves his sceptre o'er the isles,
Claims the pirates' treasuries,
Through innumerable miles
Of the siren-haunted seas!
Elfin folk of coast and cave,
Laud him in the woven dance,
All the tribes of wold and wave
Bow the knee to King Romance!
Wand'ring voices Chaucer knew
On the mountain and the main,
Cry the haunted forest through,
KING ROMANCE HAS COME AGAIN!
CENTRAL AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES IN SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM
'Youth and crabbed age
Cannot live together;'
So they say.
On this little page
See you when and whether
That they may.
Age was very old -
Stones from Chichimec
Hardly wrung;
Youth had hair of gold
Knotted on her neck -
Fair and young!
Age was carved with odd
Slaves, and priests that slew them -
God and Beast;
Man and Beast and God -
There she sat and drew them,
King and Priest!
There she sat and drew
Many a monstrous head
And antique;
Horrors from Peru,
HUACAS doubly dead,
Dead cacique!
Ere Pizarro came
These were lords of men
Long ago;
Gods without a name,
Born or how or when,
None may know!
Now from Yucatan
These doth Science bear
Over seas;
And methinks a man
Finds youth doubly fair,
Sketching these!
ON CALAIS SANDS
On Calais Sands the grey began,
Then rosy red above the grey,
The morn with many a scarlet van
Leap'd, and the world was glad with May!
The little waves along the bay
Broke white upon the shelving strands;
The sea-mews flitted white as they
On Calais Sands!
On Calais Sands must man with man
Wash honour clean in blood to-day;
On spaces wet from waters wan
How white the flashing rapiers play,
Parry, riposte! and lunge! The fray
Shifts for a while, then mournful stands
The Victor: life ebbs fast away
On Calais Sands!
On Calais Sands a little space
Of silence, then the plash and spray,
The sound of eager waves that ran
To kiss the perfumed locks astray,
To touch these lips that ne'er said 'Nay,'
To
The griefs that leave her grey,
The flesh that yet enchains her
Whose grace hath passed away!
Oh, happier he who gains not
The Love some seem to gain:
The joy that custom stains not
Shall still with him remain,
The loveliness that wanes not,
The Love that ne'er can wane.
In dreams she grows not older
The lands of Dream among,
Though all the world wax colder,
Though all the songs be sung,
In dreams doth he behold her
Still fair and kind and young.
THE PROMISE OF HELEN
Whom hast thou longed for most,
True love of mine?
Whom hast thou loved and lost?
Lo, she is thine!
She that another wed
Breaks from her vow;
She that hath long been dead
Wakes for thee now.
Dreams haunt the hapless bed,
Ghosts haunt the night,
Life crowns her living head,
Love and Delight.
Nay, not a dream nor ghost,
Nay, but Divine,
She that was loved and lost
Waits to be thine!
THE RESTORATION OF ROMANCE.
TO H. R. H., R. L. S., A. C. D., AND S. W.
King Romance was wounded deep,
All his knights were dead and gone,
All his court was fallen on sleep,
In a vale of Avalon!
Nay, men said, he will not come,
Any night or any morn.
Nay, his puissant voice is dumb,
Silent his enchanted horn!
King Romance was forfeited,
Banished from his Royal home,
With a price upon his head,
Driven with sylvan folk to roam.
King Romance is fallen, banned,
Cried his foemen overbold,
Broken is the wizard wand,
All the stories have been told!
Then you came from South and North,
From Tugela, from the Tweed,
Blazoned his achievements forth,
King Romance is come indeed!
All his foes are overthrown,
All their wares cast out in scorn,
King Romance hath won his own,
And the lands where he was born!
Marsac at adventure rides,
Felon men meet felon scathe,
Micah Clarke is taking sides
For King Monmouth and the Faith;
For a Cause or for a lass
Men are willing to be slain,
And the dungeons of the Bass
Hold a prisoner again.
King Romance with wand of gold
Sways the realms he ruled of yore.
Hills Dalgetty roamed of old,
Valleys of enchanted Kor:
Waves his sceptre o'er the isles,
Claims the pirates' treasuries,
Through innumerable miles
Of the siren-haunted seas!
Elfin folk of coast and cave,
Laud him in the woven dance,
All the tribes of wold and wave
Bow the knee to King Romance!
Wand'ring voices Chaucer knew
On the mountain and the main,
Cry the haunted forest through,
KING ROMANCE HAS COME AGAIN!
CENTRAL AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES IN SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM
'Youth and crabbed age
Cannot live together;'
So they say.
On this little page
See you when and whether
That they may.
Age was very old -
Stones from Chichimec
Hardly wrung;
Youth had hair of gold
Knotted on her neck -
Fair and young!
Age was carved with odd
Slaves, and priests that slew them -
God and Beast;
Man and Beast and God -
There she sat and drew them,
King and Priest!
There she sat and drew
Many a monstrous head
And antique;
Horrors from Peru,
HUACAS doubly dead,
Dead cacique!
Ere Pizarro came
These were lords of men
Long ago;
Gods without a name,
Born or how or when,
None may know!
Now from Yucatan
These doth Science bear
Over seas;
And methinks a man
Finds youth doubly fair,
Sketching these!
ON CALAIS SANDS
On Calais Sands the grey began,
Then rosy red above the grey,
The morn with many a scarlet van
Leap'd, and the world was glad with May!
The little waves along the bay
Broke white upon the shelving strands;
The sea-mews flitted white as they
On Calais Sands!
On Calais Sands must man with man
Wash honour clean in blood to-day;
On spaces wet from waters wan
How white the flashing rapiers play,
Parry, riposte! and lunge! The fray
Shifts for a while, then mournful stands
The Victor: life ebbs fast away
On Calais Sands!
On Calais Sands a little space
Of silence, then the plash and spray,
The sound of eager waves that ran
To kiss the perfumed locks astray,
To touch these lips that ne'er said 'Nay,'
To