Upon the hidden bases of the hills.' So might some old man speak in the aftertime To all the people, winning reverence. But now much honour and much fame were lost." So spake he, clouded with his own conceit, And hid Excalibur the second time, And so strode back slow to the wounded King. Then spoke King Arthur, breathing heavily : "What is it thou hast seen? or what hast heard?" And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere : "I heard the water lapping on the crag, And the long ripple washing in the reeds." 66 To whom replied King Arthur, much in wrath : Ah, miserable and unkind, untrue, Unknightly, traitor-hearted! Authority forgets a dying king, Laid widow'd of the power Woe is me! in his eye That bow'd the will. I see thee what thou art. For thou, the latest-left of all my knights, In whom should meet the offices of all, Thou wouldst betray me for the precious hilt; Either from lust of gold, or like a girl Valuing the giddy pleasure of the eyes. Yet, for a man may fail in duty twice, And the third time may prosper, get thee hence : I will arise and slay thee with my hands." And strongly wheel'd and threw it. The great brand And flashing round and round, and whirl'd in an arch, Then spoke King Arthur, drawing thicker breath: "Now see I by thine eyes that this is done. Speak out what is it thou hast heard, or seen !” And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere : Not though I live three lives of mortal men, Then with both hands I flung him, wheeling him ; That caught him by the hilt, and brandish'd him And answer made King Arthur, breathing hard : My end draws nigh; 'tis time that I were gone. Make broad thy shoulders to receive my weight, And bear me to the margin; yet I fear My wound hath taken cold, and I shall die.” So saying, from the pavement he half rose, Slowly, with pain, reclining on his arm, As in a picture. Him Sir Bedivere Remorsefully regarded thro' his tears, And would have spoken, but he found not words, Then took with care, and kneeling on one knee, O'er both his shoulders drew the languid hands, And rising bore him thro' the place of tombs. But, as he walk'd, King Arthur panted hard, Like one that feels a nightmare on his bed When all the house is mute. So sigh'd the King, Muttering and murmuring at his ear “Quick, quick! I fear it is too late, and I shall die." But the other swiftly strode from ridge to ridge, Clothed with his breath, and looking, as he walk'd, Larger than human on the frozen hills. He heard the deep behind him, and a cry Before. His own thought drove him like a goad. Dry clash'd his harness in the icy caves And barren chasms, and all to left and right The bare black cliff clang'd round him, as he based His feet on juts of slippery crag that rang Sharp-smitten with the dint of armed heels And on a sudden, lo! the level lake, And the long glories of the winter moon. Then saw they how there hove a dusky barge, Dark as a funeral scarf from stem to stern, Beneath them; and descending they were ware That all the decks were dense with stately forms A cry that shiver'd to the tingling stars, And, as it were one voice, an agony Of lamentation, like a wind, that shrills All night in a waste land, where no one comes, Or hath come, since the making of the world. Then murmur'd Arthur, "Place me in the barge," And to the barge they came. There those three Queens Put forth their hands, and took the King, and wept. But she, that rose the tallest of them all And fairest, laid his head upon her lap, And loosed the shatter'd casque, and chafed his hands, And call'd him by his name, complaining loud, And dropping bitter tears against his brow Striped with dark blood: for all his face was white Smote by the fresh beam of the springing east ; |