As when October's sun, long caught in a curtain of gray, With a flood of impatient crimson breaks out, at the dying of day, And trees and green fields, the hills and the skies, are all steep'd in the stain;-- So o'er the English one hope flamed forth, one moment,--in vain! As hail when the corn-fields are deep, Down the fierce arrow-points sweep: Now the basnets of France o'er the palisade frown; The shield-fort is shatter'd; the Dragon is down. O then there was dashing and dinting of axe and of broad-sword and spear: Blood crying out to blood: and Hatred that casteth out fear! Loud where the fight is the loudest, the slaughter-breath hot in the air, O what a cry was that!--the cry of a nation's despair! --Hew down the best of the land! Down them with mace and with brand! The fell foreign arrow has crash'd to the brain; England with Harold the Englishman slain! Yet they fought on for their England! of ineffaceable fame Worthy, and stood to the death, though the greedy sword, like a flame, Bit and bit yet again in the solid ranks, and the dead Heap where they die, and hills of foemen about them are spread:-- --Hew down the heart of the land, There, to a man, where they stand! Till night with her blackness uncrimsons the stain, And the merciful shroud overshadows our slain. Heroes unburied, unwept!--But a wan gray thing in the night Like a marsh-wisp flits to and fro through the blood-lake, the steam of the fight; Turning the bodies, exploring the features with delicate touch; Stumbling as one that finds nothing: but now!--as one finding too much: Love through mid-midnight will see: Edith the fair! It is he! Clasp him once more, the heroic, the dear! Harold was England: and Harold lies here. _The hide of the tanyard_; See the story of Arlette or Herleva, the tanner's daughter, mother to William 'the Bastard.' _At Stamford_; At Stamford Bridge, over the Derwent, Harold defeated his brother Tostig and Harold Hardrada, Sep 25, 1066. _Your castle_; Harold's triple palisade upon the hill of battle is so described by the chronicler, Henry of Huntingdon. _Rome's gonfanon_; The consecrated banner, sent to William from Rome. _The fierce standards_; These were planted on the spot chosen by the Conqueror for the high-altar of the Abbey of Battle. The _Warrior_ was Harold's 'personal ensign.' _In a summer to be_; June 18, 1815. _The ventayle_; Used here for the _nasale_ or nose-piece shown in the Bayeux Tapestry. DEATH IN THE FOREST August 2: 1100 Where the greenwood is greenest At gloaming of day, Where the twelve-antler'd stag Faces boldest at bay; Where the solitude deepens, Till almost you hear The blood-beat of the heart As the quarry slips near; His comrades outridden With scorn in the race, The Red King is hallooing His bounds to the chase.