The Prophecy of Merlin, and Other Poems

BY JOHN READE. MONTREAL: Published by Dawson Brothers. —— 1870. Entered according to Act of Parliament, in the year 1870, by John Reade, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. MONTREAL: PRINTED BY THE MONTREAL PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO.
“O living friends that love me! O dear ones gone above me! Careless of other fame, I leave to you my name.

Sweeter than any sung My songs that found no tongue; Nobler than any fact My wish that failed of act.”
J. G. Whittier.



Sir Bedivere, in silence, watched the barge That bore away King Arthur to the vale Of Avalon, till it was seen no more. Then, on the beach, alone amid the dead, He lifted up his voice and sorely wept. “Alas!” he cried, “gone are the pleasant days At Camelot, and the sweet fellowship Of noble knights and true, and beauteous dames Who have no peers in all the living world, Is quite dissolved for ever, and the King Has gone and left none like him among men. O happy, thrice and fourfold, ye who rest, Both friends and foemen, in one peaceful bed, While I am sick at soul and cannot die! Oh! that the battle might be fought again! Then would I surely seek the way to death, And bleed and sleep like you, and be at peace. But now, ah! whither, whither can I go, Since he is gone who was my light of life, And whom to see was bliss? What can I do Without the voice that gave my arm its strength? Or wherefore bear a sword, since now no more Excalibur points forth to noble deeds?”
And then he drew his blade, and threw it far Into the Lake, and, as he saw it sink, “Would God,” said he, “that so I followed him.”
But with the strain his wounds began to bleed, And he grew weak, and sank upon the ground, And swooned. And when he woke, he was aware Of Merlin, who stood watching by his side. Then cried Sir Bedivere: “O good and wise, I bid thee welcome, for, in all the world, There is none other I would fainer see. Yet am I sad to see thee, for the King Is gone, and none is left of all his Knights Save me, and I am weary of my life.”