第57章 The Holy Grail(4)

Then flashed a yellow gleam across the world,And where it smote the plowshare in the field,The plowman left his plowing,and fell down Before it;where it glittered on her pail,The milkmaid left her milking,and fell down Before it,and I knew not why,but thought "The sun is rising,"though the sun had risen.

Then was I ware of one that on me moved In golden armour with a crown of gold About a casque all jewels;and his horse In golden armour jewelled everywhere:

And on the splendour came,flashing me blind;And seemed to me the Lord of all the world,Being so huge.But when I thought he meant To crush me,moving on me,lo!he,too,Opened his arms to embrace me as he came,And up I went and touched him,and he,too,Fell into dust,and I was left alone And wearying in a land of sand and thorns.

'And I rode on and found a mighty hill,And on the top,a city walled:the spires Pricked with incredible pinnacles into heaven.

And by the gateway stirred a crowd;and these Cried to me climbing,"Welcome,Percivale!

Thou mightiest and thou purest among men!"

And glad was I and clomb,but found at top No man,nor any voice.And thence I past Far through a ruinous city,and I saw That man had once dwelt there;but there I found Only one man of an exceeding age.

"Where is that goodly company,"said I,"That so cried out upon me?"and he had Scarce any voice to answer,and yet gasped,"Whence and what art thou?"and even as he spoke Fell into dust,and disappeared,and IWas left alone once more,and cried in grief,"Lo,if I find the Holy Grail itself And touch it,it will crumble into dust."'And thence I dropt into a lowly vale,Low as the hill was high,and where the vale Was lowest,found a chapel,and thereby A holy hermit in a hermitage,To whom I told my phantoms,and he said:

'"O son,thou hast not true humility,The highest virtue,mother of them all;For when the Lord of all things made Himself Naked of glory for His mortal change,'Take thou my robe,'she said,'for all is thine,'

And all her form shone forth with sudden light So that the angels were amazed,and she Followed Him down,and like a flying star Led on the gray-haired wisdom of the east;But her thou hast not known:for what is this Thou thoughtest of thy prowess and thy sins?

Thou hast not lost thyself to save thyself As Galahad."When the hermit made an end,In silver armour suddenly Galahad shone Before us,and against the chapel door Laid lance,and entered,and we knelt in prayer.

And there the hermit slaked my burning thirst,And at the sacring of the mass I saw The holy elements alone;but he,"Saw ye no more?I,Galahad,saw the Grail,The Holy Grail,descend upon the shrine:

I saw the fiery face as of a child That smote itself into the bread,and went;And hither am I come;and never yet Hath what thy sister taught me first to see,This Holy Thing,failed from my side,nor come Covered,but moving with me night and day,Fainter by day,but always in the night Blood-red,and sliding down the blackened marsh Blood-red,and on the naked mountain top Blood-red,and in the sleeping mere below Blood-red.And in the strength of this I rode,Shattering all evil customs everywhere,And past through Pagan realms,and made them mine,And clashed with Pagan hordes,and bore them down,And broke through all,and in the strength of this Come victor.But my time is hard at hand,And hence I go;and one will crown me king Far in the spiritual city;and come thou,too,For thou shalt see the vision when I go."'While thus he spake,his eye,dwelling on mine,Drew me,with power upon me,till I grew One with him,to believe as he believed.

Then,when the day began to wane,we went.

'There rose a hill that none but man could climb,Scarred with a hundred wintry water-courses--Storm at the top,and when we gained it,storm Round us and death;for every moment glanced His silver arms and gloomed:so quick and thick The lightnings here and there to left and right Struck,till the dry old trunks about us,dead,Yea,rotten with a hundred years of death,Sprang into fire:and at the base we found On either hand,as far as eye could see,A great black swamp and of an evil smell,Part black,part whitened with the bones of men,Not to be crost,save that some ancient king Had built a way,where,linked with many a bridge,A thousand piers ran into the great Sea.

And Galahad fled along them bridge by bridge,And every bridge as quickly as he crost Sprang into fire and vanished,though I yearned To follow;and thrice above him all the heavens Opened and blazed with thunder such as seemed Shoutings of all the sons of God:and first At once I saw him far on the great Sea,In silver-shining armour starry-clear;And o'er his head the Holy Vessel hung Clothed in white samite or a luminous cloud.

And with exceeding swiftness ran the boat,If boat it were--I saw not whence it came.

And when the heavens opened and blazed again Roaring,I saw him like a silver star--And had he set the sail,or had the boat Become a living creature clad with wings?

And o'er his head the Holy Vessel hung Redder than any rose,a joy to me,For now I knew the veil had been withdrawn.

Then in a moment when they blazed again Opening,I saw the least of little stars Down on the waste,and straight beyond the star I saw the spiritual city and all her spires And gateways in a glory like one pearl--No larger,though the goal of all the saints--Strike from the sea;and from the star there shot A rose-red sparkle to the city,and there Dwelt,and I knew it was the Holy Grail,Which never eyes on earth again shall see.

Then fell the floods of heaven drowning the deep.

And how my feet recrost the deathful ridge No memory in me lives;but that I touched The chapel-doors at dawn I know;and thence Taking my war-horse from the holy man,Glad that no phantom vext me more,returned To whence I came,the gate of Arthur's wars.'