"'Redeem my pennon,--charge again!
Cry,--"Marmion to the rescue!"
'Must I bid twice?--hence, varlets! fly!
Leave Marmion here alone,--to die.'
They parted, and alone he lay;
Clare drew her from the sight away,
Till pain wrung forth a lowly moan,
And half he murmur'd--'Is there none,
Of all my halls have nursed,
Page, squire, or groom, one cup to bring
Of blessed water from the spring,
To slake my dying thirst!'"
"O Woman! in our hours of ease,
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please,
And variable as the shade
By the light quivering aspen made;
When pain and anguish wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou!
Scarce were the piteous accents said,
When, with the baron's casque, the maid
To the nigh streamlet ran:
Forgot were hatred, wrongs, and fears;
The plaintive voice alone she hears,
Sees but the dying man."
She stooped by the side of the rill, but drew back in horror,--it ran
red with the best blood of two kingdoms. Near by, a fountain played, the
well of Sybil Grey. At this, the helmet was quickly filled, and
accompanied by a monk, who was present to shrive the dying or to bless
the dead, the Lady Clare hurried to the side of Marmion. Deep he drank,
saying:
"Is it the hand of Constance or of Clare that bathes my brow? Speak not
to me of shrift and prayer; while the spark of life lasts, I must
redress the wrongs of Constance."
Between broken sobs the Lady Clare replied:
"'In vain for Constance is your zeal;
She--died at Holy Isle.'"
Lord Marmion started from the ground, but fainting fell, supported by
the monk.
The din of war ceased for a moment, then there swelled upon the gale the
cry, "Stanley! Stanley!"
"A light on Marmion's visage spread,
And fired his glazing eye:
With dying hand, above his head,
He shook the fragment of his blade,
And shouted 'Victory!
Charge, Chester, charge! On, Stanley, on!'
Were the last words of Marmion."
The monk gently placed the maid on her steed, and led her to the fair
Chapel of Tilmouth. The night was spent in prayer, and at dawn she was
safely given to her kinsman, Lord Fitz-Clare.
All day, till darkness drew her wing over the ghastly scene, more
desperate grew the deadly strife. When night had fallen, Surrey drew his
shattered bands from the fray. Then Scotland learned her loss.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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