Flaming round each high brow bent Fourfold starry gold, that sent Light before them as they went: 'Neath their burning crowns their eyes Shone like awful stars the skies Rock in shattered storm that flies. IV Dark their eyes were, lurid dark; And within their eyes a spark Like the opal's burned: my sark Seemed to shrivel 'neath their gaze; As, with marvel and amaze, All my soul it seemed to raise. V And I saw their mouths were fire, Ruby-red as the desire Of the Sanc Graal: fair and dire Were their lips, whereon the kiss Of all Heaven lay; the bliss Of all happiness that is. VI Calm as Beauty lying dead, Tapers lit at feet and head, Were they, round whom prayers seemed said: Fragrant as that woman who, Born of blossoms and of dew And of magic, wedded Llew. VII And the first one said to me:-- "Thou hast slept thus holily While seven sands ran shadowy; Earth hath served thee like a slave, Serving us who found thee brave, Pure of life and great to save: VIII "Know!"--She touched my brow: a pain As of arrows pierced my brain: Ceased: and earth, both sea and plain, Vanished: and I stood where thought Stands, and worship, spirit-fraught, Watching how the heavens are wrought. IX Then the second said to me: "Thou hast come all sinlessly Thro' life's sin-enveloped sea: Know the things thou hast not seen: Filling all the soul with sheen; Meaning more than earth may mean: X "See!"--Her voice sang like a lyre, Comprehending all desire In its gamut's throbbing fire:-- And my inner eyelids,--which Dimmed clairvoyance,--raised: and rich, As one chord's vibrating pitch, XI Grew my soul with light: that saw The embodiment of awe, Love, divinity, and law, Orbed and eöned: and the power, Circumstance, like some vast flower; From which time fell, hour on hour. XII 'Neath the third one's mighty will All my soul lay very still, Feeling all its being thrill As she, smiling, said to me: "Thou dost know, and thou canst see: What thou art arise and be!" XIII To my lips her lips she pressed; And my new-born soul, thrice-blessed, Clasped her radiance and caressed: Mounted and, in glory clad, Soared with them who chorused glad: "Christ awaits thee, Galahad!" AFTER THE TOURNAMENT _The good Knight_, SIR LIONELL DE GANIS, _wounded unto death, addresses his Lady_, EVALOTT, _in the Forest of Dean, whither he has been borne on his shield_. I And shall it be, when white thorns flake With blossoms all the Maytime brake, The rustle of a flower or leaf Will let thee know That I am near thee, as thy grief, As long ago? II