Alfred merely repeats the message of the Virgin Mary, tells him where to meet him and goes away certain of his help. He next goes to Mark's farm, the low, white house in the southland, inhabited by the bronzed man with a bird's beak and a bird's bright eye.
"His fruit trees stood like soldiers
Drilled in a straight line,
His strange, stiff olives did not fail,
And all the kings of the earth drank ale,
But he drank wine."
Alfred gives his message and the Roman answers:
"'Guthrum sits strong on either bank
And you must press his lines
Inwards, and eastward drive him down;
I doubt if you shall take the crown
Till you have taken London town.
For me, I have the vines.'"
But Alfred is certain of his help too and goes on to the lost land of boulders and broken men, where dwells Colan of Caerleon:
"Last of a race in ruin—
He spoke the speech of the Gaels;
His kin were in holy Ireland,
Or up in the crags of Wales....
He made the sign of the cross of God,
He knew the Roman prayer,
But he had unreason in his heart
Because of the gods that were....
Gods of unbearable beauty
That broke the hearts of men."
He ridicules Alfred until he hears the warning:
" ... that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher."