"A strange, unmeaning stare was that, And a page beside me said, 'If ever corse in saddle sat, Our lord is certes sped!' But I smote the lad, for it drove me mad To think him dead. "What! dead so young, what! lost so soon, My beautiful, my brave! Sooner the sun should find at noon In central heaven a grave! Sweet Jesu, no, it is not so When Thou canst save! "For was he dead and was he sped, When he could ride so well, So bravely bear his plumèd head? Or, was't some spirit fell In causeless wrath had crossed his path With fiendish spell? "Oh. Hermit, 'twas a cruel sight. And He, who loves to bless, Ne'er sent on son such bitter blight. On sire such sore distress, Such piteous pass, and I, alas, So powerless! {36} "They would have ta'en him from his horse The while I wept and prayed, They would have lain him like a corse Upon a litter made Of traversed spear and martial gear. But I forbade. "I gazed into his face again, I chafed his hand once more, I summoned him to speak, in vain-- He sat there as before, While the gallant Grey in dumb dismay His rider bore. "Full well, full well Grey Caliph then The horror seemed to know. E'en deeper than my mailèd men Methought he felt our woe; For the barbed head of the desert-bred Was drooping low. "Amazed, aghast, he gazed at me, That mourner true and good. Then backward at my boy looted he. As if a word he sued. And like sculptured pile in abbey aisle The train there stood. "I took the rein: the frozen one Still fast in saddle sate. As tremblingly I led him on Toward the great castle gate. O walls mine own, why have ye grown So desolate?-- "I led them to the castle gate And paused before the shrine Where throned in state from earliest date, Protectress of our line. Madonna pressed close to her breast The Babe Divine. "And kneeling lowly at her feet, I begged the Mother mild That she would sue her Jesu sweet To aid my stricken child; And the meek stone face flashed full of grace As if she smiled. {37} "And methought the eyes of the Full of Grace Upon my darling shone, Till living seemed that marble face And the living man seemed stone, While a halo played round the Mother Maid And round her Son. "And there was radiance everywhere Surpassing light of day, On man and horse, on shield and spear Burned the bright, blinding ray; But most it shone on my only one And his gallant Grey. "A sudden clang of armor rang, My boy lay on the sward. Up high in air Grey Caliph sprang, An instant fiercely pawed. Then trembling stood aghast and viewed His fallen lord. "Then with the flash of fire away Like sunbeam o'er the plain, Away, away with echoing neigh And wildly waving mane. Away he sped, loose from his head The flying rein.