 | The white sail and other poems |  |
48
CHALUZ CASTLE.
There sped, at hint of treasure
Dug from the garden-mould,
Word to the doughty vassal:
‘Thy sovereign claims the gold!’
‘Nay, Richard, come and wrest it!’
Said Vidomar the bold.
Dug from the garden-mould,
Word to the doughty vassal:
‘Thy sovereign claims the gold!’
‘Nay, Richard, come and wrest it!’
Said Vidomar the bold.
Uprose the Lionhearted,
He locked his armor on:
And over seas that morrow
Around his gonfalon,
The crash and hiss of battle
Blazed up, and mocked the sun.
He locked his armor on:
And over seas that morrow
Around his gonfalon,
The crash and hiss of battle
Blazed up, and mocked the sun.
King Richard led his bowmen
By Chaluz dark and high;
Like rain and rack they followed
His flashing storm-blue eye:
Forth peered Bertrand de Gourdon
From the turret stair thereby.
By Chaluz dark and high;
Like rain and rack they followed
His flashing storm-blue eye:
Forth peered Bertrand de Gourdon
From the turret stair thereby.
49
Thro' morris-pikes and halberds
The king rode out and in,
His horse in gaudy trappings,
His sabre drawn and thin:
Down knelt Bertrand de Gourdon
His strongbow at his chin.
The king rode out and in,
His horse in gaudy trappings,
His sabre drawn and thin:
Down knelt Bertrand de Gourdon
His strongbow at his chin.
O shrill that arrow quivered!
And fierce and awful broke
Acclaim in billowy thunder
From all the foreign folk,
At mighty Richard fallen
Beneath a foreign oak!
And fierce and awful broke
Acclaim in billowy thunder
From all the foreign folk,
At mighty Richard fallen
Beneath a foreign oak!
Then leaped his English barons,
Converging from afar,
And loosed the flood of slaughter
To the gates of Vidomar;
And seized Bertrand de Gourdon,
As clouds enmesh a star.
Converging from afar,
And loosed the flood of slaughter
To the gates of Vidomar;
And seized Bertrand de Gourdon,
As clouds enmesh a star.
They brought the bright-cheeked archer
Who scoffed not, neither feared,
To the tent ringed in with faces
That menaced in their beard;
But the king's face lay before him
In the lamplight semisphered.
Who scoffed not, neither feared,
To the tent ringed in with faces
That menaced in their beard;
But the king's face lay before him
In the lamplight semisphered.
50
The king's self, stern and pallid
Gazed on the lad that day,
And as if dreams were on him
Besought him gently: ‘Say,
Bertrand de Gourdon! wherefore
Thou tak'st my life away?’
Gazed on the lad that day,
And as if dreams were on him
Besought him gently: ‘Say,
Bertrand de Gourdon! wherefore
Thou tak'st my life away?’
‘To venge my martyr-father,
My foster-brethren three:
In the name of thy dead foemen
This thing I did to thee!’
And Richard perished, sighing:
‘Forgive him. Set him free!’
My foster-brethren three:
In the name of thy dead foemen
This thing I did to thee!’
And Richard perished, sighing:
‘Forgive him. Set him free!’
Alas for that late loving
By seneschals betrayed!
While yet upon his lashes
The holy tear delayed,
They bound Bertrand de Gourdon,
They slew him in the glade.
By seneschals betrayed!
While yet upon his lashes
The holy tear delayed,
They bound Bertrand de Gourdon,
They slew him in the glade.
Alas for noble spirits
Whom fates perverse befall!
Whence David in his beauty
Gave healing unto Saul,
The jeering wind beats ever
On Chaluz castle wall.
Whom fates perverse befall!
Whence David in his beauty
Gave healing unto Saul,
The jeering wind beats ever
On Chaluz castle wall.
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