Ride to the Lady | Page 3

shines: to her appear?Vast sequences close-linked without a flaw.?All past despairs of ocean unforgot,?All raptures past, serene her light she gives,?The moon too high for pity, since she lives?Aware that loss is not.
KING RAEDWALD
Will you hear now the speech of King Raedwald,--heathen Raedwald,
the simple yet wise??He, the ruler of North-folk and South-folk, a man open-browed
as the skies,?Held the eyes of the eager Italians with his blue, bold,
Englishman's eyes.
In his hall, on his throne, so he sat, with the light of the fire
on him full:?Colored bright as the ring of red gold on his hand, fit to buffet
a bull,?Was the mane that grew down on his neck, was the beard he would
pondering pull.
To the priests, to the eager Italians, thus fearless less he poured
his free speech;?"O my honey-tongued fathers, I turn not away from the faith that ye
teach!?Not the less hath a man many moods, and may ask a religion for each.
"Grant that all things are well with the realm on a delicate day
of the spring,?Easter month, time of hopes and of swallows!
The praises, the psalms that ye sing,?As in pleasant accord they float heavenward, are good in the ears
of the king.
"Then the heart bubbles forth with clear waters, to the time
of this wonder-word Peace,?From the chanting and preaching whereof ye who serve the
white Christ never cease;?And your curly, soft incense ascending enwraps my content
like a fleece.
"But a churl comes adrip from the rivers, pants me out, fallen
spent on the floor,?'O King Raedwald, Northumberland marches, and to-morrow knocks
hard at thy door,?Hot for melting thy crown on the hearth!'
Then commend me to Woden and Thor!
"Could I sit then and listen to preachments on turning the cheek
to the blow,?And saying a prayer for the smiter, and holding my seen treasure low For the sake of a treasure unseen? By the sledge of the Thunderer, no!
"For my thought flashes out as a sword, cleaving counsel as
clottage of cream;?And your incense and chanting are but as the smoke of burnt
towns and the scream;?And I quaff me the thick mead of triumph from enemies' skulls
in my dream!
"And 'tis therefore this day I resolve me,--for King Raedwald
will cringe not, nor lie!--?I will bring back the altar of Woden; in the temple will have it,
hard by?The new altar of this your white Christ. As my mood may decide,
worship I!"
So he spake in his large self-reliance,--he, a man open-browed
as the skies;?Would not measure his soul by a standard that was womanish-weak
to his eyes,?Smite his breast and go on with his sinning,--savage Raedwald,
the simple yet wise!
And the centuries bloom o'er his barrow. But for us,--have we
mastered it quite,?The old riddle, that sweet is strong's outcome, the old marvel,
that meekness is might,?That the child is the leader of lions, that forgiveness is force
at its height?
When we summon the shade of rude Raedwald, in his candor how
king-like he towers!?Have the centuries, over his slumber, only borne sterile falsehoods
for flowers??Pray you, what if Christ found him the nobler, having weighed his
frank manhood with ours?
IVO OF CHARTRES
Now may it please my lord, Louis the king,?Lily of Christ and France! riding his quest,?I, Bishop Ivo, saw a wondrous thing.
There was no light of sun left in the west,?And slowly did the moon's new light increase.?Heaven, without cloud, above the near hill's crest,?Lay passion purple in a breathless peace.?Stars started like still tears, in rapture shed,?Which without consciousness the lids release.
All steadily, one little sparkle red,?Afar, drew close. A woman's form grew up?Out of the dimness, tall, with queen-like head,?And in one hand was fire; in one, a cup.?Of aspect grave she was, with eyes upraised,?As one whose thoughts perpetually did sup?At the Lord's table.
While the cresset blazed,?Her I regarded. "Daughter, whither bent,?And wherefore?" As by speech of man amazed,?One moment her deep look to me she lent;?Then, in a voice of hymn-like, solemn fall,?Calm, as by role, she spake out her intent:
"I in my cruse bear water, wherewithal?To quench the flames of Hell; and with my fire?I Paradise would burn: that hence no small?Fear shall impel, and no mean hope shall hire,?Men to serve God as they have served of yore;?But to his will shall set their whole desire,?For love, love, love alone, forevermore!"
And "love, love, love," rang round her as she passed?From sight, with mystic murmurs o'er and o'er?Reverbed from hollow heaven, as from some vast,?Deep-colored, vaulted, ocean-answering shell.
I, Ivo, had no power to ban or bless,?But was as one withholden by a spell.?Forward she fared in lofty loneliness,?Urged on by an imperious inward stress,?To waste fair Eden, and to drown fierce Hell.
MADONNA PIA
Ricordati di me, che son la Pia.?Siena mi fe; disfecomi Maremma;?Salsi colui, che, inanellata pria,?Disposato m'avea colla sua gemma.
Purgatorio, Canto V.
To westward lies the unseen sea,?Blue sea the live winds wander o'er.?The many-colored sails can flee,?And leave the dead, low-lying shore.?Her longing does not seek the main,?Her face turns northward first