IT was Yule at Thengelfor, -- The sharp white tide of Yule; And the mailed Thanes of War, Bred in the fiery school Of the devotees of Thor, Flung into the council-hall With sneer and clamorous call At the calm-browed Thanes of Peace Who worshiped without cease, -- Bending in prayer the knee To the One of Galilee Who died, as they said, for all. Each man stood in his place That sharp white noon of Yule, And the War-Thanes hooted, "fool!" And "coward!" and "craven knave!" And they flashed, each one, a glaive In every Peace-Thane's face. But the Peace-Thanes were not cowed, Smiling their quiet smile At the flaunts and threats and jeers Roaring about their ears; And they held them poised and proud Till, after a breathing while, The tumult died like the sea Subsiding sullenly Around the breast of an isle Set at the last fiord's verge, Fronting the western surge. Then into the council-hall Where Peace confronted War, -- Where Christ confronted Thor, -- Dauntless, willowy, tall, Came a maid of Thengelfor, -- The Princess! Ah, how fair Was the sunrise-sheen of her hair, More wondrous to behold Than her coronet of gold! And she paused between them there, As white as the Yule was white, Till a hush fell on the air Like the hush of the middle night. And she said, "What stand ye for?" To the mailed Thanes of War; And they shouted shrill, "For Thor, And the kingdom's olden might!" Then she turned her, level-eyed, To the Peace-Thanes. "Ye?" she cried; As in one voice they replied, "For Christ, and the rule of right!" "Thor and the war and might!" Thus she mused for a space; "Christ and peace and the right!" And a glory mantled her face. "Better the right than might, Ye valiant Thanes of War! Blood now the Yule is white? Nay, 't were a grievous sight! -- Better the Christ than Thor!" And ever and evermore By the Baltic's rugged shore, In the halls of Thengelfor, Right not might is the rule, The Christ and not sanguine Thor At the sharp white tide of Yule! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TROILUS AND CRESSIDA: SONG by JOHN DRYDEN A FAREWELL by GEORGE GASCOIGNE A STORM IN THE DISTANCE (AMONG THE GEORGIAN HILLS) by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE SEVEN TIMES SIX [ - GIVING IN MARRIAGE] by JEAN INGELOW HABEAS CORPUS by HELEN MARIA HUNT FISKE JACKSON THE MALDIVE SHARK by HERMAN MELVILLE |