King Arthur
O MORE than mortal king! though form of earth
Compass th' eternal spirit, that shall be
England's, what while the thunder of the sea
Inlocks her shores; our Arthur, fairy birth
Of nature's treasures, summed in one man's worth;
Mighty of heart to smite with pardon free
Thy friend, thy wife of youth, false, false to thee;—
Alone with death upon thy shivered hearth!
Come, read the ages mirrored in a glass,
As, by the glamour of the acted scene,
The glorious dawn of Albion that hath been
Shows forth her proud hereafter; in the hour
Of travail, while the living shadows pass,
Fraught with our passions by enchantment's power.
Compass th' eternal spirit, that shall be
England's, what while the thunder of the sea
Inlocks her shores; our Arthur, fairy birth
Of nature's treasures, summed in one man's worth;
Mighty of heart to smite with pardon free
Thy friend, thy wife of youth, false, false to thee;—
Alone with death upon thy shivered hearth!
Come, read the ages mirrored in a glass,
As, by the glamour of the acted scene,
The glorious dawn of Albion that hath been
Shows forth her proud hereafter; in the hour
Of travail, while the living shadows pass,
Fraught with our passions by enchantment's power.
share this page
