Then he spake to the knights of Monsalväsch, 'Of a sooth, were ye true of heart, 5 Ye had pitied ere this my sorrow, how long shall pain be my part? If reward ye would have as deserving, then God give ye payment fair, For ever was _I_ your servant since the days that I harness bare. Atonement in full have I made here for aught I have done of wrong To ye, e'en tho' none had known it, and my penance endureth long! 10 If ye would not be held unfaithful, by the helmet and shield I bore, And the bond of our common knighthood, release me from bondage sore! For this of a truth must ye grant me, if ye do not the truth disdain, I bare _both_ as a knight undaunted, and fame thro' my deeds did gain. For hill and vale have I ridden, and many a joust have run, 15 And with sword-play good from my foemen much hatred methinks, I won. Yet with ye doth that count for little! Bereft of all joy am I; Yet, cometh the Day of Judgment, my voice would I lift on high, And in God's sight, I, one man only, at the last will accuse ye all, If freedom ye fail to give me, and to Hell shall ye surely fall! 20 For in sooth ye should mourn my sorrow--From the first have ye seen the thing, And ye know how it came upon me--Now I profit ye not as king, And all too soon will ye think so, when thro' me ye have lost your soul-- Alas! why thus ill-entreat me? Ere this had I been made whole!' And the knights from his grief had freed him, save they hope from the word must draw 25 That Trevrezent spake of aforetime, and that writ on the Grail he saw. And once more would they wait his coming whose joy there had waxen weak, And the hour that should bring them healing from the question his lips should speak. Then the king of a wile bethought him, and fast would he close his eyes, And four days long so he held them, when the knights, in their 'customedwise, 30 Before the Grail would bear him, if he said them or yea, or nay; But his weakness so wrought upon him, as before the shrine he lay, That his eyelids he needs must open, and against his will must live, For the Grail held death far from him and fresh life must Its vision give.