The poetical works of Robert Stephen Hawker Edited from the original manuscripts and annotated copies together with a prefatory notice and bibliography by Alfred Wallis |
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THE BURIAL OF HAROLD. |
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 | The poetical works of Robert Stephen Hawker |  |
THE BURIAL OF HAROLD.
Stern Harold hath stiffened beneath his tall shield,
For the Normans have slain him on Hastings' red field;
And William hath sworn in the hour of his pride,
That the raven shall rend him e'en there as he died.
For the Normans have slain him on Hastings' red field;
And William hath sworn in the hour of his pride,
That the raven shall rend him e'en there as he died.
Then marks of red gold, Canon Osgod hath paid
For suff'rance to bury the bones of the dead;
And the hawk from his wrist Ailric Forester gave,
To win for the Lord of his childhood a grave.
For suff'rance to bury the bones of the dead;
And the hawk from his wrist Ailric Forester gave,
To win for the Lord of his childhood a grave.
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“Away with your dead!” cried the Bastard at last,
So on to the red field of battle they pass'd;
But in vain by the heaps Canon Osgod went by,
And vain the keen glance of the Falconer's eye.
So on to the red field of battle they pass'd;
But in vain by the heaps Canon Osgod went by,
And vain the keen glance of the Falconer's eye.
“Bring Edith!” they said (whom the bard in his theme,
Once named to proud Harold, “the Swan of the Stream).”
She came, and they found her bent low at his side—
Could Death hide the warrior from Edith, his bride?
Once named to proud Harold, “the Swan of the Stream).”
She came, and they found her bent low at his side—
Could Death hide the warrior from Edith, his bride?
“Now, the Canon to Mass and the Hunter to horn!”
She shrieked in her anguish and laughed in her scorn—
“See the hand! the red hand that long pillowed my rest!
And the brow, the cold brow, that lay warm on my breast!”
She shrieked in her anguish and laughed in her scorn—
“See the hand! the red hand that long pillowed my rest!
And the brow, the cold brow, that lay warm on my breast!”
1832.
This poem was suggested by the following romantic story, told by the author of the Waltham MS. in the Cottonian Library. . .
“If we may believe him, two of the Canons, Osgod Choppe and Ailric, the childe-maister, were sent to be spectators of the battle. They obtained from William, to whom they presented ten marks of gold, permission to search for the body of their benefactor. Unable to distinguish it among the heaps of the slain, they sent for Harold's mistress, Editha, surnamed The Fair and The Swan's Neck. By her his features were recognised. The corpse was interred at Waltham with regal honours in the presence of several Norman earls and gentlemen.”—Lingard's History of England.
| The poetical works of Robert Stephen Hawker | |