StoryTitle("caps", "Sir Galahad") ?>
Galahad is the most moral and upright of all the Knights of the Round
Table. The strong lines of the poem (Tennyson, 1809-92) are the strong lines
of human destiny—
PoemStart() ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"My strength is as the strength of ten", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Because my heart is pure.\"", "") ?>
PoemEnd() ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "My good blade carves the casques of men,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "My tough lance thrusteth sure,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "My strength is as the strength of ten,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Because my heart is pure.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The shattering trumpet shrilleth high,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The hard brands shiver on the steel,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The splintered spear-shafts crack and fly,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The horse and rider reel:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They reel, they roll in clanging lists,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And when the tide of combat stands,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Perfume and flowers fall in showers,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That lightly rain from ladies' hands.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "How sweet are looks that ladies bend", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "On whom their favours fall!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For them I battle till the end,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To save from shame and thrall:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But all my heart is drawn above,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "My knees are bow'd in crypt and shrine:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I never felt the kiss of love,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Nor maiden's hand in mine.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "More bounteous aspects on me beam,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Me mightier transports move and thrill;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "So keep I fair thro' faith and prayer", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "A virgin heart in work and will.", "") ?>
PagePoem(254, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When down the stormy crescent goes,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "A light before me swims,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Between dark stems the forest glows,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "I hear a noise of hymns:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then by some secret shrine I ride;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "I hear a voice, but none are there;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The stalls are void, the doors are wide,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The tapers burning fair.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Fair gleams the snowy altar-cloth,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The silver vessels sparkle clean,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The shrill bell rings, the censer swings,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And solemn chaunts resound between.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sometimes on lonely mountain-meres", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "I find a magic bark;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I leap on board: no helmsman steers,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "I float till all is dark.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A gentle sound, an awful light!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Three angels bear the holy Grail:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With folded feet, in stoles of white,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "On sleeping wings they sail.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Ah, blessèd vision! blood of God!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "My spirit beats her mortal bars,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "As down dark tides the glory slides,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And star-like mingles with the stars.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When on my goodly charger borne", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Thro' dreaming towns I go,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The cock crows ere the Christmas morn,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The streets are dumb with snow.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The tempest crackles on the leads,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And, ringing, springs from brand and mail;", "") ?>
PagePoem(255, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But o'er the dark a glory spreads,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And gilds the driving hail.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I leave the plain, I climb the height;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "No branchy thicket shelter yields;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But blessèd forms in whistling storms", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Fly o'er waste fens and windy fields.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A maiden knight—to me is given", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Such hope, I know not fear;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I yearn to breathe the airs of heaven", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That often meet me here.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I muse on joy that will not cease,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Pure spaces cloth'd in living beams,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Pure lilies of eternal peace,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Whose odours haunt my dreams;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And, stricken by an angel's hand,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "This mortal armour that I wear,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "This weight and size, this heart and eyes,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Are touch'd, are turn'd to finest air.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The clouds are broken in the sky,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And thro' the mountain-walls", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A rolling organ-harmony", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Swells up, and shakes and falls.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then move the trees, the copses nod,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Wings flutter, voices hover clear:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"O just and faithful knight of God!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Ride on! the prize is near.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "So pass I hostel, hall, and grange;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "By bridge and ford, by park and pale,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "All-arm'd I ride, whate'er betide,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Until I find the holy Grail.", "") ?>
PoemAttribution("100", SmallCapsText("Alfred Tennyson.")) ?>
PoemEnd() ?>