 | Poems with Fables in Prose |  |
182
VIII
To knit this fabric out of chivalriesHer reason charmed so well,
By sheer enchanting measure to enthral
She chained as Orpheus by a spell
Intense, the stubborn'st rock of adversaries,
Gascon, Burgundian, Breton, Provencal,
Into the very substance of her wall,
To be its buttresses, nay, pillars vast,
Projecting on the future the brave past,
That she by grace and force reciprocal
Their countervailing valours did subsume.
Her lifting voice
Ensheaved these mighty rebel strains to poise
Into a nation, ruling us and time.
| Poems with Fables in Prose | |