WHY wait for Arthur? He too long has slept. He shall not hear you—no, nor heed your moan, More than the wail of those fair Queens that kept Their watch for him what months in Avalon! He shall not wake for any mother's son Nor mother's daughter of them all in tears, His knights, his ladies. How then for this one, You the last blossom of our world's lost years? —Ah, let him sleep. For see how in the wood, Under the dead oak, green new saplings spring, How the thorn blossoms, while birds cry aloud In scorn of grief. And, Lady, by the rood! There rides a knight, new-armed and questing proud, Who shouts, "The king is dead. Long live the King!" |