ELAINE.

L

ELAINE.

ELAINE the fair, Elaine the loveable,

Elaine, the lily maid of Astolat,

High in her chamber up a tower to the east

Guarded the sacred shield of Lancelot ;

Which first she placed where morning's earliest ray

Might strike it, and awake her with the gleam ;

Then fearing rust or soilure fashion'd for it

A case of silk, and braided thereupon

All the devices blazon'd on the shield
In their own tinct, and added, of her wit,
A border fantasy of branch and flower,
And yellow-throated nestling in the nest.
Nor rested thus content, but day by day

Leaving her household and good father climb'd

That eastern tower, and entering barr'd her door,

Stript off the case, and read the naked shield,

Now guess'd a hidden meaning in his arms,

Now made a pretty history to herself

Of every dint a sword had beaten in it,

And every scratch a lance had made upon it, Conjecturing when and where: this cut is fresh ; That ten years back; this dealt him at Caerlyle; That at Caerleon; this at Camelot :

And ah God's mercy what a stroke was there!

And here a thrust that might have kill'd, but God Broke the strong lance, and roll'd his enemy down, And saved him: so she lived in fantasy.

How came the lily maid by that good shield
Of Lancelot, she that knew not ev'n his name?
He left it with her, when he rode to tilt
For the great diamond in the diamond jousts,
Which Arthur had ordain'd, and by that name

Had named them, since a diamond was the prize.

For Arthur when none knew from whence he came,

Long ere the people chose him for their king,
Roving the trackless realms of Lyonnesse,

Had found a glen, gray boulder and black tarn.
A horror lived about the tarn, and clave

Like its own mists to all the mountain side:

For here two brothers, one a king, had met
And fought together; but their names were lost.
And each had slain his brother at a blow,

And down they fell and made the glen abhorr'd :
And there they lay till all their bones were bleach'd,
And lichen'd into colour with the crags :
And one of these, the king, had on a crown

Of diamonds, one in front, and four aside.

And Arthur came, and labouring up the pass

All in a misty moonshine, unawares

Had trodden that crown'd skeleton, and the skull

Brake from the nape, and from the skull the crown