Is not the Vision he, tho' He be not that which He seems?

Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams?

Earth, these solid stars, this weight of body and limb,

Are they not sign and symbol of thy division from Him?

Dark is the world to thee; thyself art the reason why,

For is He not all but thou, that hast power to feel 'I am I'?

Glory about thee, without thee; and thou

fulfillest thy doom,

Making Him broken gleams and a stifled splendor and gloom.

Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and
Spirit with Spirit can meet -
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer
than hands and feet.

God is law, say the wise; O soul, and let us rejoice,

For if He thunder by law the thunder is yet His voice.

Law is God, say some; no God at all, says the fool,

For all we have power to see is a straight staff bent in a pool;

And the ear of man cannot hear, and the eye of man cannot see;

But if we could see and hear, this Visionwere it not He?

FLOWER IN THE CRANNIED WALL [1869]

FLOWER in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower-but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.

IDYLLS OF THE KING

THE COMING OF ARTHUR
[1869]

I EODOGRAN, the king of Cameliard,
Had one fair daughter, and none other
child;

And she was fairest of all flesh on earth, Guinevere, and in her his one delight.

For many a petty king ere Arthur came Ruled in this isle and, ever waging war Each upon other, wasted all the land;

And still from time to time the heathen host

Swarm'd over-seas, and harried what wa left.

And so there grew great tracts of wilder

ness,

Wherein the beast was ever more an

more,

But man was less and less, till Arthu

came.

For first Aurelius lived and fought and died,

And after him King Uther fought and died,

But either fail'd to make the kingdom

one.

And after these King Arthur for a space And thro' the puissance of his Table Round,

Drew all their petty princedoms under him, Their king and head, and made a realm and reign'd.

And thus the land of Cameliard was waste,

Thick with wet woods, and many a beast therein,

And none or few to scare or chase the beast;

So that wild dog and wolf and boar and bear

Came night and day, and rooted in the fields,

And wallow'd in the gardens of the King. And ever and anon the wolf would steal The children and devour, but now and

then,

Her own brood lost or dead, lent her fierce teat

To human sucklings; and the children, housed

In her foul den, there at their meat would growl,

And mock their foster-mother on four feet,

Till, straighten'd, they grew up to wolflike men,

Worse than the wolves. And King Leodogran

Groan'd for the Roman legions here again And Cæsar's eagle: then his brother king, Urien assail'd him: last a heathen horde, Reddening the sun with smoke and earth with blood,

And on the spike that split the mother's heart

Spitting the child, brake on him, till, amazed,

He knew not whither he should turn for aid.

But for he heard of Arthur newly crown'd,

Tho' not without an uproar made by those Who cried, 'He is not Uther's son' - the

King

Sent to him, saying, 'Arise, and help us thou!

For here between the man and beast we die.'

And Arthur yet had done no deed of

arms,

But heard the call and came: and Guine

vere

Stood by the castle walls to watch him pass;

But since he neither wore on helm or shield

The golden symbol of his kinglihood,
But rode a simple knight among his knights,
And many of these in richer arms than
he,

She saw him not, or mark'd not, if she saw,

One among many, tho' his face was bare. But Arthur, looking downward as he past, Felt the light of her eyes into his life Smite on the sudden, yet rode on, and pitch'd

His tents beside the forest. Then he drave The heathen; after, slew the beast, and fell'd

The forest, letting in the sun, and made Broad pathways for the hunter and the knight,

And so return'd.

For while he linger'd there, A doubt that ever smoulder'd in the hearts Of those great lords and barons of his realm

Flash'd forth and into war; for most of these,

Colleaguing with a score of petty kings, Made head against him, crying: 'Who is he

That he should rule us? who hath proven him

King Uther's son? for lo! we look at him,

And find nor face nor bearing, limbs nor voice,

Are like to those of Uther whom we knew. This is the son of Gorlois, not the King: This is the son of Anton, not the King.'

And Arthur, passing thence to battle, felt

Travail, and throes and agonies of the life,

Desiring to be join'd with Guinevere,
And thinking as he rode: 'Her father said
That there between the man and beast
they die.

Shall I not lift her from this land of beasts

Up to my throne and side by side with me?

95

Vext O ye stars that shudder over me, O earth that soundest hollow under me, Vext with waste dreams? for saving I be join'd

To her that is the fairest under heaven, I seem as nothing in the mighty world, And cannot will my will nor work my work

Wholly, nor make myself in mine own realm

Victor and lord. But were I join'd with her,

Then might we live together as one life, And reigning with one will in everything Have power on this dark land to lighten it,

And power on this dead world to make it live.'

But summon here before us yet once more Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere.'

Then, when they came before him, the King said:

'I have seen the cuckoo chased by lesser fowl,

And reason in the chase; but wherefore

Do these your lords stir up the heat of

Some calling Arthur born of Gorloïs, Others of Anton? Tell me, ye yourselves, Hold ye this Arthur for King Uther's son?"

And Ulfius and Brastias answer'd, 'Ay.' Then Bedivere, the first of all his knights Knighted by Arthur at his crowning, spake

For bold in heart and act and word was he,

Whenever slander breathed against the King -

'Sir, there be many rumors on this head: For there be those who hate him in their hearts,

Call him baseborn, and since his ways are sweet,

And theirs are bestial, hold him less than

And there be those who deem him more than man,

And dream he dropt from heaven: but my belief

In all this matter- so ye care to learnSir, for ye know that in King Uther's time

The prince and warrior Gorloïs, he that held

Tintagil castle by the Cornish sea,
Was wedded with a winsome wife, Ygerne:
And daughters had she borne him, - one
whereof,

Lot's wife, the Queen of Orkney, Bellicent,
Hath ever like a loyal sister cleaved
To Arthur, but a son she had not borne.
And Uther cast upon her eyes of love;
But she, a stainless wife to Gorloïs,
So loathed the bright dishonor of his love
That Gorlois and King Uther went to war,
And overthrown was Gorloïs and slain.
Then Uther in his wrath and heat be-
sieged

Ygerne within Tintagil, where her men,
Seeing the mighty swarm about their walls.
Left her and fled, and Uther enter'd in,
And there was none to call to but him-
self.

So, compass'd by the power of the King. Enforced she was to wed him in her tears. And with a shameful swiftness; afterward, Not many moons, King Uther died himself,

Moaning and wailing for an heir to rule After him, lest the realm should go to wrack.

And that same night, the night of the new year,

By reason of the bitterness and grief
That vext his mother, all before his time
Was Arthur born, and all as soon as born
Deliver'd at a secret postern-gate
To Merlin, to be holden far apart
Until his hour should come; because the
lords

Of that fierce day were as the lords of this,

Wild beasts, and surely would have torn the child

Piecemeal among them, had they known; for each

But sought to rule for his own self and hand,

And many hated Uther for the sake
Of Gorloïs. Wherefore Merlin took the

child,

And gave him to Sir Anton, an old knight And ancient friend of Uther; and his wife Nursed the young prince, and rear'd him with her own;

And no man knew. And ever since the lords

Have foughten like wild beasts among themselves,

So that the realm has gone to wrack; but

now,

This year, when Meiin - for his hour had come

Brought Arthur forth, and set him in the hall,

Proclaiming, "Here is Uther's heir, your king,"

A hundred voices cried: "Away with him!
No king of ours! a son of Gorloïs he;
Or else the child of Anton, and no king,
Or else baseborn." Yet Merlin thro' his
craft,

And while the people clamor'd for a king, Had Arthur crown'd; but after, the great lords

Banded, and so brake out in open war.'

Then while the King debated with himself

If Arthur were the child of shamefulness,
Or born the son of Gorloïs after death,
Or Uther's son and born before his time,
Or whether there were truth in anything
Said by these three, there came to Came-
liard,

With Gawain and young Modred, her two

sons,

Lot's wife, the Queen of Orkney, Bellicent;

Whom as he could, not as he would, the King

'O King,' she cried, 'and I will tell thee: few,

Few, but all brave, all of one mind with him:

For I was near him when the savage yells Of Uther's peerage died, and Arthur sat Crowned on the daïs, and his warriors cried,

"Be thou the king, and we will work thy will

Who love thee." Then the King in low deep tones,

And simple words of great authority, Bound them by so strait vows to his own self

That when they rose, knighted from kneeling, some

Were pale as at the passing of a ghost, Some flush'd, and others dazed, as one who wakes

Half-blinded at the coming of a light.

'But when he spake, and cheer'd his Table Round

With large, divine, and comfortable words,
Beyond my tongue to tell thee I beheld
From eye to eye thro' all their Order flash
A momentary likeness of the King;
And ere it left their faces, thro' the cross
And those around it and the Crucified,
Down from the casement over Arthur,
smote

Flame-color, vert, and azure, in three rays,
One falling upon each of three fair queens
Who stood in silence near his throne, the
friends

Of Arthur, gazing on him, tall, with bright Sweet faces, who will help him at his need.

'And there I saw mage Merlin, whose vast wit

And hundred winters are but as the hands Of loyal vassals toiling for their liege.

'And near him stood the Lady of the Lake,

Who knows a subtler magic than his ownClothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful. She gave the King his huge cross-hilted sword,

Whereby to drive the heathen out a mist Of incense curl'd about her, and her face Wellnigh was hidden in the minster gloom;

But there was heard among the holy hymns A voice as of the waters, for she dwells Down in a deep calm, whatsoever storms May shake the world and when the surface rolls,

Hath power to walk the waters like our Lord.

"There likewise I beheld Excalibur Before him at his crowning borne, the sword

That rose from out the bosom of the lake, And Arthur row'd across and took it-rich With jewels, elfin Urim, on the hilt, Bewildering heart and eye-the blade so bright

That men are blinded by it on one side, Graven in the oldest tongue of all this world,

"Take me," but turn the blade and ye shall see,

And written in the speech ye speak yourself,

"Cast me away!" And sad was Arthur's face

Taking it, but old Merlin counsell'd him, "Take thou and strike! the time to cast away

Is yet far-off." So this great brand the king

Took, and by this will beat his foemen down.'

Thereat Leodogran rejoiced, but thought To sift his doubtings to the last, and ask'd, Fixing full eyes of question on her face, 'The swallow and the swift are near akin, But thou art closer to this noble prince, Being his own dear sister;' and she said, 'Daughter of Gorloïs and Ygerne am I;' 'And therefore Arthur's sister?' ask'd the King.

She answer'd, 'These be secret things,' and sign'd

To those two sons to pass, and let them be. And Gawain went, and breaking into song Sprang out, and follow'd by his flying hair Ran like a colt, and leapt at all he saw; But Modred laid his ear beside the doors, And there half-heard -the same that afterward

A mother weeping, and I hear her say, "O that ye had some brother, pretty one, To guard thee on the rough ways of the world."'

'Ay,' said the King, 'and hear ye such a cry?

But when did Arthur chance upon thee first?'

'O King!' she cried, 'and I will tell thee true:

He found me first when yet a little maid: Beaten I had been for a little fault Whereof I was not guilty; and out I ran And flung myself down on a bank of heath,

And hated this fair world and all therein, And wept, and wish'd that I were dead; and he

I know not whether of himself he came. Or brought by Merlin, who, they say, can walk

Unseen at pleasure he was at my side, And spake sweet words, and comforted my heart,

And dried my tears, being a child with me. And many a time he came, and evermore As I grew greater grew with me; and sad At times he seem'd, and sad with him was I,

Stern too at times, and then I loved him not,

But sweet again, and then I loved him well. And now of late I see him less and less, But those first days had golden hours for