Changing for amber-knobs their Eastern ware
Or tin-sand silvery fair,
To temper brazen swords, or rim the shield
Of heroes, arm’d for fight:—
While the rough miners, wondering, gladly yield
The treasured ore; nor Alexander’s name
Know, nor fair Helen’s shame;
Or in his tent how Peleus’ wrathful son
Looks toward the sea, nor heeds
The towers of still-unconquer’d Ilion.
Belerium; The name given to the Land’s End by Diodorus, the Greek historical compiler. He describes the natives as hospitable and civilized. They mined tin, which was bought by traders and carried through Gaul to the south-east, and may, as suggested here, have been used in their armour by the warriors during the Homeric Siege of Troy.
PAULINUS AND EDWIN
627
The black-hair’d gaunt Paulinus
By ruddy Edwin stood:—
‘Bow down, O King of Deira,
Before the holy Rood!
Cast forth thy demon idols,
And worship Christ our Lord!’
—But Edwin look’d and ponder’d,
And answer’d not a word.
Again the gaunt Paulinus
To ruddy Edwin spake:
‘God offers life immortal
For His dear Son’s own sake!
Wilt thou not hear his message
Who bears the Keys and Sword?’
—But Edwin look’d and ponder’d,
And answer’d not a word.
Rose then a sage old warrior;
Was five-score winters old;
Whose beard from chin to girdle
Like one long snow-wreath roll’d:—
‘At Yule-time in our chamber
We sit in warmth and light,
While cavern-black around us
Lies the grim mouth of Night.
‘Athwart the room a sparrow
Darts from the open door:
Within the happy hearth-light
One red flash,—and no more!
We see it born from darkness,
And into darkness go:—
So is our life, King Edwin!
Ah, that it should be so!