 | Gathered poems of Ernest Myers |  |
71
TINTAGEL
All the terror of the trampling Ocean,
All the valour of the rooted rock,
Now in fiercer now in fainter combat,
Clash together here with countering shock.
All the valour of the rooted rock,
Now in fiercer now in fainter combat,
Clash together here with countering shock.
All along the grim defiant rampart
Fling the rolling seas their torrent wrack,
Leap and leap in wild repeated onset,
Roar and reel and fall in fountains back.
Fling the rolling seas their torrent wrack,
Leap and leap in wild repeated onset,
Roar and reel and fall in fountains back.
Long the way those giant waves have journeyed,
Warmed by Gulf suns, chill from Labrador,
Blended streams amid the broad Atlantic,
Doomed to break on stern Tintagel's shore.
Warmed by Gulf suns, chill from Labrador,
Blended streams amid the broad Atlantic,
Doomed to break on stern Tintagel's shore.
72
Tristram, Mark, the weird of wondrous Arthur,
Fair Isolt, and all the fateful tale,
Phantom forms about their phantom fortress,
Haunt the twilight, hovering in the gale.
Fair Isolt, and all the fateful tale,
Phantom forms about their phantom fortress,
Haunt the twilight, hovering in the gale.
Round the cliff the prow of friend or foeman
Swings within the port with sudden wheel;
From the deck there darts a gleam of armour,
In the wind there comes a clash of steel.
Swings within the port with sudden wheel;
From the deck there darts a gleam of armour,
In the wind there comes a clash of steel.
With the sound or on the gleam they vanish;
Crumble all their castle-walls away;
Laid full low in immemorial ruin,
None may read their record maimed and grey.
Crumble all their castle-walls away;
Laid full low in immemorial ruin,
None may read their record maimed and grey.
Only ever at their post appointed
Stand the swart stern crags enduringly,
Greaves of Britain, where the mightiest Island
Plants a firm foot in the mightiest Sea.
Stand the swart stern crags enduringly,
Greaves of Britain, where the mightiest Island
Plants a firm foot in the mightiest Sea.
| Gathered poems of Ernest Myers | |