The Ballad of the White Horse Part 2

The rook croaked homeward heavily, The west was clear and warm, The smoke of evening food and ease Rose like a blue tree in the trees When he came to Eldred's farm.

But Eldred's farm was fallen awry, Like an old cripple's bones, And Eldred's tools were red with rust, And on his well was a green crust, And purple thistles upward thrust, Between the kitchen stones.

But smoke of some good feasting Went upwards evermore, And Eldred's doors stood wide apart For loitering foot or labouring cart, And Eldred's great and foolish heart Stood open like his door.

A mighty man was Eldred, A bulk for casks to fill, His face a dreaming furnace, His body a walking hill.

In the old wars of Wess.e.x His sword had sunken deep, But all his friends, he signed and said, Were broken about Ethelred; And between the deep drink and the dead He had fallen upon sleep.

"Come not to me, King Alfred, Save always for the ale: Why should my harmless hinds be slain Because the chiefs cry once again, As in all fights, that we shall gain, And in all fights we fail?

"Your scalds still thunder and prophesy That crown that never comes; Friend, I will watch the certain things, Swine, and slow moons like silver rings, And the ripening of the plums."

And Alfred answered, drinking, And gravely, without blame, "Nor bear I boast of scald or king, The thing I bear is a lesser thing, But comes in a better name.

"Out of the mouth of the Mother of G.o.d, More than the doors of doom, I call the muster of Wess.e.x men From gra.s.sy hamlet or ditch or den, To break and be broken, G.o.d knows when, But I have seen for whom.

"Out of the mouth of the Mother of G.o.d Like a little word come I; For I go gathering Christian men From sunken paving and ford and fen, To die in a battle, G.o.d knows when, By G.o.d, but I know why.

"And this is the word of Mary, The word of the world's desire 'No more of comfort shall ye get, Save that the sky grows darker yet And the sea rises higher.'"

Then silence sank. And slowly Arose the sea-land lord, Like some vast beast for mystery, He filled the room and porch and sky, And from a cobwebbed nail on high Unhooked his heavy sword.

Up on the shrill sea-downs and up Went Alfred all alone, Turning but once e'er the door was shut, Shouting to Eldred over his b.u.t.t, That he bring all spears to the woodman's hut Hewn under Egbert's Stone.

And he turned his back and broke the fern, And fought the moths of dusk, And went on his way for other friends Friends fallen of all the wide world's ends, From Rome that wrath and pardon sends And the grey tribes on Usk.

He saw gigantic tracks of death And many a shape of doom, Good steadings to grey ashes gone And a monk's house white like a skeleton In the green crypt of the combe.

And in many a Roman villa Earth and her ivies eat, Saw coloured pavements sink and fade In flowers, and the windy colonnade Like the spectre of a street.

But the cold stars cl.u.s.tered Among the cold pines Ere he was half on his pilgrimage Over the western lines.

And the white dawn widened Ere he came to the last pine, Where Mark, the man from Italy, Still made the Christian sign.

The long farm lay on the large hill-side, Flat like a painted plan, And by the side the low white house, Where dwelt the southland man.

A bronzed man, with a bird's bright eye, And a strong bird's beak and brow, His skin was brown like buried gold, And of certain of his sires was told That they came in the s.h.i.+ning s.h.i.+p of old, With Caesar in the prow.

His fruit trees stood like soldiers Drilled in a straight line, His strange, stiff olives did not fail, And all the kings of the earth drank ale, But he drank wine.

Wide over wasted British plains Stood never an arch or dome, Only the trees to toss and reel, The tribes to bicker, the beasts to squeal; But the eyes in his head were strong like steel, And his soul remembered Rome.

Then Alfred of the lonely spear Lifted his lion head; And fronted with the Italian's eye, Asking him of his whence and why, King Alfred stood and said:

"I am that oft-defeated King Whose failure fills the land, Who fled before the Danes of old, Who chaffered with the Danes with gold, Who now upon the Wess.e.x wold Hardly has feet to stand.

"But out of the mouth of the Mother of G.o.d I have seen the truth like fire, This--that the sky grows darker yet And the sea rises higher."

Long looked the Roman on the land; The trees as golden crowns Blazed, drenched with dawn and dew-empearled While faintlier coloured, freshlier curled, The clouds from underneath the world Stood up over the downs.

"These vines be ropes that drag me hard,"

He said. "I go not far; Where would you meet? For you must hold Half Wilts.h.i.+re and the White Horse wold, And the Thames bank to Owsenfold, If Wess.e.x goes to war.

"Guthrum sits strong on either bank And you must press his lines Inwards, and eastward drive him down; I doubt if you shall take the crown Till you have taken London town.

For me, I have the vines."

"If each man on the Judgment Day Meet G.o.d on a plain alone,"

Said Alfred, "I will speak for you As for myself, and call it true That you brought all fighting folk you knew Lined under Egbert's Stone.

"Though I be in the dust ere then, I know where you will be."

And shouldering suddenly his spear He faded like some elfin fear, Where the tall pines ran up, tier on tier Tree overtoppling tree.

He shouldered his spear at morning And laughed to lay it on, But he leaned on his spear as on a staff, With might and little mood to laugh, Or ever he sighted chick or calf Of Colan of Caerleon.

For the man dwelt in a lost land Of boulders and broken men, In a great grey cave far off to the south Where a thick green forest stopped the mouth, Giving darkness in his den.

And the man was come like a shadow, From the shadow of Druid trees, Where Usk, with mighty murmurings, Past Caerleon of the fallen kings, Goes out to ghostly seas.

Last of a race in ruin-- He spoke the speech of the Gaels; His kin were in holy Ireland, Or up in the crags of Wales.

But his soul stood with his mother's folk, That were of the rain-wrapped isle, Where Patrick and Brandan westerly Looked out at last on a landless sea And the sun's last smile.

His harp was carved and cunning, As the Celtic craftsman makes, Graven all over with twisting shapes Like many headless snakes.

His harp was carved and cunning, His sword prompt and sharp, And he was gay when he held the sword, Sad when he held the harp.

For the great Gaels of Ireland Are the men that G.o.d made mad, For all their wars are merry, And all their songs are sad.

He kept the Roman order, He made the Christian sign; But his eyes grew often blind and bright, And the sea that rose in the rocks at night Rose to his head like wine.

He made the sign of the cross of G.o.d, He knew the Roman prayer, But he had unreason in his heart Because of the G.o.ds that were.

Even they that walked on the high cliffs, High as the clouds were then, G.o.ds of unbearable beauty, That broke the hearts of men.

And whether in seat or saddle, Whether with frown or smile, Whether at feast or fight was he, He heard the noise of a nameless sea On an undiscovered isle.

Lifting the great green ivy And the great spear lowering, One said, "I am Alfred of Wess.e.x, And I am a conquered king."

And the man of the cave made answer, And his eyes were stars of scorn, "And better kings were conquered Or ever your sires were born.

"What G.o.ddess was your mother, What fay your breed begot, That you should not die with Uther And Arthur and Lancelot?

"But when you win you brag and blow, And when you lose you rail, Army of eastland yokels Not strong enough to fail."

"I bring not boast or railing,"

Spake Alfred not in ire, "I bring of Our Lady a lesson set, This--that the sky grows darker yet And the sea rises higher."

Then Colan of the Sacred Tree Tossed his black mane on high, And cried, as rigidly he rose, "And if the sea and sky be foes, We will tame the sea and sky."