HE hears the hour's low hint and springs To the chariot-side of Truth, while fast The wild car swings Through dust and cloud; And the watchful elders, prophet-proud, Give o'er his bones To the wracking stones— But he has passed! A weft of sky, and castles stare High from a wizard shore, Sun-arrowed, tower-strong; Gold parapets in air Down-pour, down-pour Sea-falls of peri song; Then earth, the dragon's lair; Cave eyes and burning breath; And the lance the Grail lords bore This day flies swift and fair, This day of the dragon's death. Must doff the wind-wreath, find thee lone? Put on meek age's hood? Feel but the frost within the dawn? Wrap courage in a swaddling mood? His bare throat flings All-powered nay; The world, his vast, unfingered lyre, Stirs in her thousand strings; Lit with redemptive flame Burns miracle desire, And dedicated day Is long as freedom's dream. Youth of the lance, youth of the lyre, How far, how far shalt go? Where will the halting be? Sun-courier, whose roads of fire Bridge God's delay, The hearts that know thee, ah, they know, Ageless in clay, Sole immortality! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MOURNING-GARMENT: THE SHEPHERD'S WIFE'S SONG by ROBERT GREENE SONG OF SHERWOOD by ALFRED NOYES MONNA INNOMINATA, A SONNET OF SONNETS: 11 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI BISHOP BRUNO by ROBERT SOUTHEY IDYLLS OF THE KING: GARETH AND LYNETTE by ALFRED TENNYSON THE CENTENARIAN'S STORY by WALT WHITMAN THE MODERN VERSION (TO A LUCY STONER) by BERTON BRALEY TANNHAUSER; OR, THE BATTLE OF THE BARDS by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |