"King! I have said, and keep my vow."
"Thy vow! I pledge thee mine in turn,
Ere the third sun shall sink,—or bring
A fair outshining yonder ring,
Or find mine oath as thine is now
Inflexible and stern.
"Thy sword, unmeet to serve the right,—
Thy spurs, unfit for churls to wear,
Torn from thee;—through the crowd, which heard
Our Lady weep at vassal's word,
Shall hiss the hoot,—'Behold the knight,
Whose lips belie the fair!'
"Three days I give; nor think to fly
Thy doom; for on the rider's steed,
Though to the farthest earth he ride,—
Disgrace once mounted, clings beside;
And Mockery's barbèd shafts defy
Her victim's swiftest speed."
Far to the forest's stillest shade,
Sir Elvar took his lonely way:
Beneath the oak, whose gentle frown
Still dimm'd the noon, he laid him down,
And saw the Fount that through the glade
Sang sparkling up to day.
Alas, in vain his heart address'd,
With sighs, with prayers, his elfin bride;—
What though the vow conceal'd the name,
Did not the boast the charms proclaim?
The spell has vanish'd from his breast,
The fairy from his side.
Oh, not for vulgar homage made,
The holier beauty form'd for one;
It asks no wreath the arm can win;
Its lists—its world—the heart within;
All love, if sacred, haunts the shade—
The star shrinks from the sun!
Three days the wand'rer roved in vain;
Uprose the fatal dawn at last!
The Lists are set, the galleries raised,
And, scorn'd by all the eyes that gazed,
Alone he fronts the crowd again,
And hears the sentence pass'd.
Now, as, amidst the hooting scorn,
Rude hands the hard command fulfil,
While rings the challenge—"Sun and air
Ne'er shone, ne'er breathed, on form so fair
As Arthur's Queen,"—a single horn
Came from the forest hill.
A note so distant and so lone,
And yet so sweet,—it thrill'd along,
It hush'd the Champion on his steed,
Startled the rude hands from their deed,
Charm'd the stern Arthur on his throne,
And still'd the shouting throng.
To North, to South, to East, and West,
They turn'd their eyes; and o'er the plain,
On palfrey white, a Ladye rode;
As woven light her mantle glow'd.
Two lovely shapes, in azure dress'd,
Walk'd first, and led the rein.