"There, by the lord of streams, a palace rose; 56 On bloody floors there was a throne of state; And in the land there dwelt one race--our foes; And on the single throne the Saxon sate! And Cymri's crown was on his knitted brow; And where stands Carduel, went the labourer's plough. "And east and west, and north and south I turn'd, 57 And call'd my people as a king should call; Pale in the hollow mountains I discern'd Rude scatter'd stragglers from the common thrall; Kingless and armyless, by crag and cave,-- Ghosts on the margin of their country's grave. "And even there, amidst the barren steeps, 58 I heard the tramp, I saw the Saxon steel; Aloft, red Murder like a deluge sweeps, Nor rock can save, nor cavern can conceal; Hill after hill, the waves devouring rise, Till in one mist of carnage closed my eyes! "Then spoke the hell-born shadow by my side-- 59 'O king, who dreamest, amid sweets and bloom, Life, like one summer holiday, can glide, Blind to the storm-cloud of the coming doom; ARTHUR PENDRAGON, to the Saxon's sway Thy kingdom and thy crown shall pass away.' "'And who art thou, that Heaven's august decrees 60 Usurp'st thus?' I cried, and lo the space Was void!--Amidst the horror of the trees, And by the pool, which mirror'd back the face Of Dark in crystal darkness--there I stood, And the sole spectre was the Solitude! "I knew no more--strong as a mighty dream 61 The trouble seized the soul, and seal'd the sense; I knew no more, till in the blessed beam, Life sprung to loving Nature for defence; Vale, flower, and fountain laugh'd in jocund spring, And pride came back,--again I was a king! "But, ev'n the while with airy sport of tongue 62 (As with light wing the skylark from its nest Lures the invading step) I led the throng From the dark brood of terror in my breast; Still frown'd the vision on my haunted eye, And blood seem'd reddening in the azure sky. "O thou, the Almighty Lord of earth and heaven, 63 Without whose will not ev'n a sparrow falls, If to my sight the fearful truth was given, If thy dread hand hath graven on these walls The Chaldee's doom, and to the stranger's sway My kingdom and my crown shall pass away,-- "Grant this--a freeman's, if a monarch's, prayer!-- 64 LIFE, while my life one man from chains can save; While earth one refuge, or the cave one lair, Yields to the closing struggle of the brave!-- Mine the last desperate but avenging hand; If reft the sceptre, not resign'd the brand!"