76. THE RED-CROSS KNIGHT.
A gentle Knight was pricking on the plain, Y-clad in mighty arms and silver shield, Wherein old dints of deep wounds did remain, The cruel marks of many a bloody field; Yet arms till that time did he never wield. His angry steed did chide his foaming bit, As much disdaining to the curb to yield. Full jolly knight he seemed, and faire did sit, As one for knightly jousts and fierce encounters fit.
And on his breast a bloody cross he bore, The dear remembrance of his dying Lord, For whose sweet sake that glorious badge he wore, And dead, as living, ever Him adored : Upon his shield the like was also scored, For sovereign hope which in his help he had. Right faithful true he was in deed and word, But of his cheer did seem too solemn sad; Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was y-drad.
Upon a great adventure he was bound,
That greatest Gloriana to him gave
(That greatest glorious Queen of Fairyland),
To win him worship, and her grace to have,
Which of all earthly things he most did crave;
And ever as he rode his heart did yearn
To prove his puissance in battle brave
Upon his foe, and his new force to learn;
Upon his foe, a Dragon horrible and stern.
A lovely Lady rode him fair beside,
Upon a lowly ass more white than snow,
Yet she much whiter; but the same did hide
Under a veil, that wimpled was full low;
And over all a black stole she did throw :
As one that inly mourned, so was she sad,
And heavy sat upon her palfrey slow;
Seemed in heart some hidden care she had,
And by her, in a line, a milk-white lamb she led.
So pure and innocent as that same lamb
She was in life and every virtuous lore;
And by descent from royal lineage came
Of ancient kings and queens, that had of yore
Their sceptres stretched from east to western shore,
And all the world in their subjection held ;
Till that infernal fiend with foul uproar
Forwasted all their land, and them expelled;
Whom to avenge she had this Knight from far compelled.
Behind her far away a Dwarf did lag,
That lazy seemed, in being ever last,
Or wearied with bearing of her bag
Of needments at his back. Thus as they passed,
The day with clouds was sudden overcast,
And angry Jove an hideous storm of rain
Did pour into his leman's lap so fast,
That every wight to shroud it did constrain;
And this fair couple eke to shroud themselves were fain.
Enforced to seek some covert nigh at hand,
A shady grove not far away they spied,
That promised aid the tempest to withstand;
Whose lofty trees, y-clad with summer's pride,
Did spread so broad that heaven's light did hide,
Not pierceable with power of any star:
And all within were paths and alleys wide,
With footing worn, and leading inward far.
Fair harbour that them seems, so in they entered are.
And forth they pass, with pleasure forward led,
Joying to hear the birds' sweet harmony,
Which, therein shrouded from the tempest dread, Seemed in their song to scorn the cruel sky. Much can they praise the trees so straight and high, The sailing pine; the cedar proud and tall; The vine-prop elm; the poplar never dry; The builder oak, sole king of forests all; The aspen, good for staves; the cypress funeral.
The laurel, meed of mighty conquerors
And poets sage; the fir that weepeth still;
The willow, worn of forlorn paramours;
The yew, obedient to the bender's will;
The birch for shafts; the sallow for the mill;
The myrrh sweet-bleeding in the bitter wound;
The warlike beech; the ash for nothing ill;
The fruitful olive; and the platane round;
The carver holme; the maple seldom inward sound.
Led with delight, they thus beguile the way,
Until the blustering storm is over-blown ;
When, weening to return whence they did stray,
They cannot find that path which first was shown,
But wander to and fro in ways unknown,
Furthest from end then, when they nearest ween,
That makes them doubt their wits be not their own:
So many paths, so many turnings seen,
That which of them to take in diverse doubt they been.
At last resolving forward still to fare,
Till that some end they find, or in or out,
That path they take that beaten seemed most bare,
And like to lead the labyrinth about;
Which when by track they hunted had throughout,
At length it brought them to a hollow cave
Amid the thickest woods. The Champion stout
Eftsoons dismounted from his courser brave,
And to the Dwarf awhile his needless spear he gave.
"Be well aware," quoth then that Lady mild,
"Lest sudden mischief ye too rash provoke:
The danger hid, the place unknown and wild,
Breeds dreadful doubts. Oft fire is without smoke,
And peril without show; therefore your stroke,
Sir Knight, withhold till further trial made.”
Ah, Lady," said he, "shame were to revoke
The forward footing for an hidden shade :
Virtue gives herself light through darkness for to wade.”
"Yea, but," quoth she, "the peril of this place
I better wot than you though now too late
To wish you back return with foul disgrace,
Yet wisdom warns, whilst foot is in the gate,
To stay the step ere forced to retreat.
This is the Wandering Wood, this Error's den,
A monster vile, whom God and man does hate;
Therefore I rede beware." "Fly, fly," quoth then
The fearful Dwarf; "this is no place for living men."
77. THE YEAR.
The crocus, while the days are dark,
Unfolds its saffron sheen;
At April's touch the crudest bark
Discovers gems of green.
Then sleep the seasons, full of might;
While slowly swells the pod
And rounds the peach, and in the night
The mushroom bursts the sod.
The winter falls; the frozen rut
Is bound with silver bars;
The snow-drift heaps against the hut,
And night is pierced with stars.
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