Beyond my knowing of them, beautiful,
Beyond all knowing of them, wonderful,
Beautiful in the light of holiness.

And 'O my brother, Percivale,' she said,
'Sweet brother, I have seen the Holy Grail:
For, waked at dead of night, I heard a sound
As of a silver horn from o'er the hills
Blown, and I thought it is not Arthur's use
To hunt by moonlight, and the slender sound
As from a distance beyond distance grew
Coming upon me,-O never harp nor horn,

In his own chair, and so was lost; but he,
Galahad, when he heard of Merlin's doom,
Cried, 'If I lose myself I save myself!'

"Then on a summer night it came to pass, While the great banquet lay along the hall, That Galahad would sit down in Merlin's chair.

"And all at once, as there we sat, we heard
A cracking and a riving of the roofs,
And rending, and a blast, and overhead

Nor aught we blow with breath, or touch with hand, Thunder, and in the thunder was a cry.
Was like that music as it came; and then
Stream'd thro' my cell a cold and silver beam,
And down the long beam stole the Holy Grail,
Rose-red with beatings in it, as if alive,
Till all the white walls of my cell were dyed
With rosy colors leaping on the wall;
And then the music faded, and the Grail
Passed, and the beam decay'd, and from the walls
The rosy quiverings died into the night.
So now the Holy Thing is here again
Among us, brother, fast thou too and pray,
And tell thy brother knights to fast and pray,
That so perchance the vision may be seen
By thee and those, and all the world be heal'd.'

And in the blast there smote along the hall

A beam of light seven times more clear than day:
And down the long beam stole the Holy Grail
All over cover'd with a luminous cloud,
And none might see who bare it, and it past.
But every knight beheld his fellow's face
As in a glory, and all the knights arose,
And staring each at other like dumb men
Stood, till I found a voice and sware a vow.

"Then leaving the pale nun, I spake of this To all men; and myself fasted and pray'd Always, and many among us many a week Fasted and pray'd even to the uttermost, Expectant of the wonder that would be.

"And one there was among us, ever moved
Among us in white armor, Galahad.
'God make thee good as thou art beautiful,'
Said Arthur, when he dubb'd him knight; and none,
In so young youth, was ever made a knight
Till Galahad; and this Galahad, when he heard
My sister's vision, fill'd me with amaze;
His eyes became so like her own, they seem'd
Hers, and himself her brother more than I.

"Sister or brother none had he; but some
Call'd him a son of Lancelot, and some said
Begotten by enchantment,-chatterers, they,
Like birds of passage piping up and down
That gape for flies, we know not whence they come ;
For when was Lancelot wanderingly lewd?

"But she, the wan, sweet maiden shore away
Clean from her forehead all that wealth of hair
Which made a silken mat-work for her feet;
And out of this she plaited broad and long
A strong sword-belt, and wove with silver thread
And crimson in the belt a strange device,
A crimson grail within a silver beam;
And saw the bright boy-knight, and bound it on him
Saying, 'My knight, my love, my knight of heaven.
O thou, my love, whose love is one with mine,
I, maiden, round thee, maiden, bind my belt.
Go forth, for thou shalt see what I have seen,
And break thro' all, till one will crown thee king
Far in the spiritual city:' and as she spake
She sent the deathless passion in her eyes
Thro' him, and made him hers, and laid her mind
On him, and he believed in her belief.

"Then came a year of miracle: O brother,
In our great hall there stood a vacant chair,
Fashion'd by Merlin ere he past away,
And carven with strange figures; and in and out
The figures, like a serpent, ran a scroll
Of letters in a tongue no man could read.
And Merlin call'd it 'The Siege perilous,'
Perilous for good and ill; 'for there,' he said,
'No man could sit but he should lose himself:'
And once by misadvertence Merlin sat

"I sware a vow before them all, that I
Because I had not seen the Grail, would ride
A twelvemonth and a day in quest of it,
Until I found and saw it, as the nun
My sister saw it; and Galahad sware the vow.
And good Sir Bors, our Lancelot's cousin, sware,
And Lancelot sware, and many among the knights,
And Gawain sware, and louder than the rest.

Then spake the monk Ambrosius, asking him,
"What said the king? Did Arthur take the vow?"

"Nay, for, my lord, (said Percivale,) the king
Was not in Hall: for early that same day,
'Scaped thro' a cavern from a bandit hold,
An outraged maiden sprang into the hall
Crying on help; for all her shining hair
Was smear'd with earth, and either milky arm
Red-rent with hooks of bramble, and all she wore
Torn as a sail, that leaves the rope, is torn
In tempest: so the king arose and went
To smoke the scandalous hive of those wild bees
That made such honey in his realm: howbeit
Some little of this marvel he too saw,
Returning o'er the plain that then began
To darken under Camelot; whence the king
Look'd up, calling aloud, 'Lo there! the roofs
Of our great Hall are rolled in thunder-smoke!
Pray Heaven they be not smitten by the bolt.'
For dear to Arthur was that hall of ours,
As having there so oft with all his knights
Feasted, and as the stateliest under heaven.

"O brother, had you known our mighty hall,
Which Merlin built for Arthur long ago!
For all the sacred Mount of Camelot,
And all the dim rich city, roof by roof,
Tower after tower, spire beyond spire,
By grove, and garden-lawn, and rushing brook,
Climbs to the mighty hall that Merlin built.
And four great zones of sculpture, set betwixt
With many a mystic symbol, gird the hall;
I And in the lowest beasts are slaying men,
And in the second men are slaying beasts,
And on the third are warriors, perfect men,
And on the fourth are men with growing wings,
And over all one statue in the mould

Of Arthur, made by Merlin, with a crown,
And peak'd wings pointed to the Northern Star.
And eastward fronts the statue, and the crown
And both the wings are made of gold, and flame
At sunrise till the people in far fields,
Wasted so often by the heathen hordes,
Behold it, crying, 'We have still a king.'

Where twelve great windows blazon Arthur's wars,
And all the light that falls upon the board
Streams thro' the twelve great battles of our king.
Nay, one there is, and at the eastern end,
Wealthy with wandering lines of mount and mere,
Where Arthur finds the brand Excalibur.
And also one to the west, and counter to it,
And blank: and who shall blazon it? when and how?
O then, perchance, when all our wars are done,
The brand Excalibur will be cast away.

"So to this hall full quickly rode the king,
In horror lest the work by Merlin wrought,
Dreamlike, should on the sudden vanish, wrapt
In unremorseful folds of rolling fire.
And in he rode, and up I glanced, and saw
The golden dragon sparkling over all:

And many of those who burnt the hold, their arms
Hack'd, and their foreheads grimed with smoke, and
sear'd,

Follow'd, and in among bright faces, ours
Full of the vision, prest: and then the King
Spake to me, being nearest, 'Percivale,'
(Because the Hall was all in tumult-some
Vowing, and some protesting,) 'what is this?'

"O brother, when I told him what had chanced, My sister's vision, and the rest, his face Darken'd, as I have seen it more than once, When some brave deed seem'd to be done in vain, Darken; and 'Woe is me, my knights!' he cried, 'Had I been here, ye had not sworn the vow.' Bold was mine answer, 'Had thyself been here, My king, thou wouldst have sworn.' 'Yea, yea,' said he,

'Art thou so bold and hast not seen the grail?'

"Nay, Lord, I heard the sound, I saw the light, But since I did not see the Holy Thing,

I sware a vow to follow it till I saw.'

| Your places being vacant at my side,
The chance of noble deeds will come and go
Unchallenged, while you follow wandering fires
Lost in the quagmire: many of you, yea most,
Return no more: ye think I show myself
Too dark a prophet: come now, let us meet
The morrow morn once more in one full field
Of gracious pastime, that once more the king,
Before you leave him for this quest, may count
The yet unbroken strength of all his knights,
Rejoicing in that Order which he made.'

"So when the sun broke next from underground,
All the great table of our Arthur closed
And clash'd in such a tourney and so full,
So many lances broken,-never yet
Had Camelot seen the like since Arthur came.
And I myself and Galahad, for a strength
Was in us from the vision, overthrew
So many knights that all the people cried,
And almost burst the barriers in their heat,
Shouting 'Sir Galahad and Sir Percivale !'

"But when the next day brake from under-
ground,-

O brother, had you known our Camelot,
Built by old kings, age after age, so old

The king himself had fears that it would fall,

So strange and rich, and dim; for where the roofs
Totter'd toward each other in the sky

Met foreheads all along the street of those
Who watch'd us pass; and lower, and where the
long

Rich galleries, lady-laden, weigh'd the necks
Of dragons clinging to the crazy walls,
Thicker than drops from thunder showers of flowers
Fell, as we past; and men and boys astride
On wyvern, lion, dragon, griffin, swan,

At all the corners, named us each by name,
Calling 'God speed!' but in the street below
The knights and ladies wept, and rich and poor

"Then when he asked us, knight by knight, if any Wept, and the king himself could hardly speak Had seen it, all their answers were as one, 'Nay, Lord, and therefore have we sworn our vows.'

""Lo now,' said Arthur, 'have ye seen a cloud? What go ye into the wilderness to see?'

"Then Galahad on the sudden, and in a voice Shrilling along the hall to Arthur, call'd, 'But I, Sir Arthur, saw the Holy Grail, I saw the Holy Grail and heard a cry

O Galahad, and O Galahad, follow me.'

For sorrow, and in the middle street the queen,
Who rode by Lancelot, wail'd and shriek'd aloud,
"This madness has come on us for our sins.'
And then we reach'd the weirdly sculptured gate,
Where Arthur's wars were render'd mystically,
And thence departed every one his way.

And I was lifted up in heart, and thought
Of all my late-shown prowess in the lists,
How my strong lance had beaten down the knights,
So many and famous names; and never yet
Had heaven appear'd so blue, nor earth so green,

"Ah, Galahad, Galahad,' said the King, 'for such For all my blood danced in me, and I knew

As thou art is the vision, not for these.
Thy holy nun and thou have seen a sign;
Holier is none, my Percivale, than she,—
A sign to maim this Order which I made.
But you, that follow but the leader's bell,'
(Brother, the king was hard upon his knights,)
'Taliessin is our fullest throat of song,
And one hath sung and all the dumb will sing.
Lancelot is Lancelot, and hath overborne
Five knights at once, and every younger knight,
Unproven, holds himself as Lancelot,
Till, overborne by one, he learns, and ye,
What are ye? Galahads,-no, nor Percivales'
(For thus it pleased the king to range me close
After Sir Galahad); 'nay,' said he, 'but men
With strength and will to right the wrong'd, of power
To lay the sudden heads of violence flat,
Knights that in twelve great battles splash'd and dyed
The strong White Horse in his own heathen blood,-
But one hath seen, and all the blind will see.
Go, since your vows are sacred, being made,—
Yet, for ye know the cries of all my realm
Pass thro' this hall, how often, O my knights,

That I should light upon the Holy Grail.

"Thereafter, the dark warning of our king,
That most of us would follow wandering fires,
Came like a driving gloom across my mind.
Then every evil word I had spoken once,
And every evil thought I had thought of old,
And every evil deed I ever did,
Awoke and cried, 'This quest is not for thee.'
And lifting up mine eyes, I found myself
Alone, and in a land of sand and thorns,
And I was thirsty even unto death;
And I, too, cried, 'This quest is not for thee.'

"And on I rode, and when I thought my thirst
Would slay me, saw deep lawns, and then a brook,
With one sharp rapid, where the crisping white
Play'd ever back upon the sloping wave,
And took both ear and eye; and o'er the brook
Were apple-trees, and apples by the brook
Fallen, and on the lawns, 'I will rest here,'
I said, 'I am not worthy of the quest;'
But even while I drank the brook, and ate

The goodly apples, all these things at once
Fell into dust, and I was left alone,
And thirsting, in a land of sand and thorns.

"And then behold a woman at a door
Spinning, and fair the house whereby she sat;
And kind the woman's eyes and innocent,
And all her bearing gracious; and she rose
Opening her arms to meet me, as who should say,
'Rest here,' but when I touched her, lo! she too
Fell into dust and nothing, and the house
Became no better than a broken shed,
And in it a dead babe; and also this
Fell into dust, and I was left alone.

"And on I rode, and greater was my thirst.
Then flash'd a yellow gleam across the world,
And where it smote the ploughshare in the field,
The ploughman left his ploughing, and fell down
Before it; where it glitter'd on her pail,
The milkmaid left her milking, and fell down
Before it, and I knew not why; but thought
'The sun is rising,' tho' the sun had risen.
Then was I ware of one that on me moved
In golden armor, with a crown of gold
About a casque all jewels; and his horse
In golden armor jewell'd everywhere:
And on the splendor came, flashing me blind;
And seem'd 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 touch'd him, and he too
Fell into dust, and I was left alone
And wearied in a land of sand and thorns.

"And on I rode and found a mighty hill,
And on the top a city wall'd: the spires
Prick'd with incredible pinnacles into heaven.
And by the gateway stirr'd 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 thro' a ruinous city, and I saw

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, fail'd from my side, nor come
Cover'd, but moving with me night and day,
Fainter by day, but always in the night
Blood-red, and sliding down the blacken'd 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 thro' Pagan realms, and made them mine,
And clash'd with Pagan hordes, and bore them down,
And broke thro' 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.

"Then rose a hill that none but man couid climb,
Scarr'd with a hundred wintry watercourses,—
Storm at the top, and, when we gain'd it, storm
Round us and death; for every moment glanced
His silver arms and gloom'd; 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 whiten'd 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.

That man had once dwelt there; but there I found And Galahad fled along them bridge by bridge,

Only one man of an exceeding age.

'Where is that goodly company,' said I,

That so cried upon me?' and he had

Scarce any voice to answer, and yet gasp'd

And every bridge as quickly as he crost
Sprang into fire and vanish'd, tho' I yearn'd
To follow; and thrice above him all the heavens
Open'd and blazed with thunder such as seem'd

'Whence and what art thou?' and even as he spoke Shoutings of all the sons of God: and first

Fell into dust, and disappear'd, and I

Was 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
Follow'd him down, and like a flying star
Led on the gray-hair'd 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 armor suddenly Galahad shone
Before us, and against the chapel door
Laid lance, and entered, and we knelt in prayer.

At once I saw him far on the great sea,
In silver-shining armor 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 open'd 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, tho' 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 recross'd the deathful ridge
No memory in me lives; but that I touch'd
The chapel-doors at dawn, I know; and thence