Ban and Arriere Ban | Page 6

together
Floated forth on the wings of the wind and the weather,

And they drifted afar down the streams of the sea.
And the sea was as red as when sunset uncloses,
But my raiment is
sweet from the scent of the Roses,
Thou shalt know, Love, how
fragrant a memory can be.
THE HAUNTED TOWER
[Suggested by a poem of Theophile Gautier]
In front he saw the donjon tall
Deep in the woods, and stayed to scan

The guards that slept along the wall,
Or dozed upon the bartizan.

He marked the drowsy flag that hung
Unwaved by wind, unfrayed by
shower,
He listened to the birds that sung
Go forth and win the

haunted tower!
The tangled brake made way for him,
The twisted
brambles bent aside;
And lo, he pierced the forest dim,
And lo, he
won the fairy bride!
For HE was young, but ah! we find,
All we,
whose beards are flecked with grey,
Our fairy castle's far behind,

We watch it from the darkling way:
'Twas ours, that palace, in our
youth,
We revelled there in happy cheer:
Who scarce dare visit now
in sooth,
Le Vieux Chateau de Souvenir!
For not the boughs of
forest green
Begird that castle far away,
There is a mist where we
have been
That weeps about it, cold and grey.
And if we seek to
travel back
'Tis through a thicket dim and sere,
With many a grave
beside the track,
And many a haunting form of fear.
Dead leaves
are wet among the moss,
With weed and thistle overgrown -
A
ruined barge within the fosse,
A castle built of crumbling stone!

The drawbridge drops from rusty chains,
There comes no challenge
from the hold;
No squire, nor dame, nor knight remains,
Of all who
dwelt with us of old.
And there is silence in the hall
No sound of
songs, no ray of fire;
But gloom where all was glad, and all
Is
darkened with a vain desire.
And every picture's fading fast,
Of fair
Jehanne, or Cydalise.
Lo, the white shadows hurrying past,
Below
the boughs of dripping trees!
0. * *
Ah rise, and march, and look not back,
Now the long way has
brought us here;
We may not turn and seek the track
To the old
Chateau de Souvenir!
BOAT-SONG
Adrift, with starlit skies above,
With starlit seas below,
We move
with all the suns that move,
With all the seas that flow:
For, bond or
free, earth, sky, and sea,
Wheel with one central will,
And thy heart
drifteth on to me,
And only Time stands still.
Between two shores of death we drift,
Behind are things forgot,


Before, the tide is racing swift
To shores man knoweth not.
Above,
the sky is far and cold,
Below, the moaning sea
Sweeps o'er the
loves that were of old,
But thou, Love, love thou me.
Ah, lonely are the ocean ways,
And dangerous the deep,
And frail
the fairy barque that strays
Above the seas asleep.
Ah, toil no more
with helm or oar,
We drift, or bond or free,
On yon far shore the
breakers roar,
But thou, Love, love thou me!
LOST LOVE
Who wins his Love shall lose her,
Who loses her shall gain,
For
still the spirit woos her,
A soul without a stain;
And Memory still
pursues her
With longings not in vain!
He loses her who gains her,
Who watches day by day
The dust of
time that stains her,
The griefs that leave her grey,
The flesh that yet
enchains her
Whose grace hath passed away!
Oh, happier he who gains not
The Love some seem to gain:
The joy
that custom stains not
Shall still with him remain,
The loveliness
that wanes not,
The Love that ne'er can wane.
In dreams she grows not older
The lands of Dream among,
Though
all the world wax colder,
Though all the songs be sung,
In dreams
doth he behold her
Still fair and kind and young.
THE PROMISE OF HELEN
Whom hast thou longed for most,
True love of mine?
Whom hast
thou loved and lost?
Lo, she is thine!
She that another wed
Breaks from her vow;
She that hath long been
dead

Wakes for thee now.

Dreams haunt the hapless bed,
Ghosts haunt the night,
Life crowns
her living head,
Love and Delight.
Nay, not a dream nor ghost,
Nay, but Divine,
She that was loved
and lost
Waits to be thine!
THE RESTORATION OF ROMANCE.
TO H. R. H., R. L. S., A.
C. D., AND S. W.
King Romance was wounded deep,
All his knights were dead and
gone,
All his court was fallen on sleep,
In a vale of Avalon!
Nay,
men said, he will not come,
Any night or any morn.
Nay, his
puissant voice is dumb,
Silent his enchanted horn!
King Romance was forfeited,
Banished from his Royal home,
With
a price upon his head,
Driven with sylvan folk to roam.
King
Romance is fallen, banned,
Cried his foemen overbold,
Broken is
the wizard wand,
All the stories have been told!
Then you came from South and North,
From Tugela, from the Tweed,

Blazoned his achievements forth,
King Romance is come indeed!

All his foes are overthrown,
All their wares cast out in scorn,

King Romance hath won his own,
And the lands where he was born!
Marsac at adventure rides,
Felon men meet felon scathe,
Micah
Clarke is taking sides
For King Monmouth and the Faith;
For a
Cause or for a lass
Men are willing to be slain,
And