University of Virginia Library

In the church beside the sea
Lay the Lady Rosalie,
And she had beneath her head
Roses for her bridal bed,
And she had beneath her feet
Roses for her winding-sheet.
She had priests to pray for her,
But there were no lilies there,
So she kept her state in white,
Like a daughter of the light.
And there waited through the night,
Housed with silk, a steed of might,
Half of gold and half of fire,
Shod and bridled with desire,
Till a knight strode past the priest,
Seemed as he had left a feast,
Staggering with shut, swollen eyes,
Singing glees that sank to sighs,
To the bier of Rosalie,
In the church beside the sea.
And he kissed the lily cheek,
And he found a voice to speak:
“Now the black cross shineth steady,
Now the golden horse is ready;
Rise, my love, with me and ride,
I am bridegroom, thou art bride;
For the shadows flee away
Into everlasting day.”
Neither bier nor flower stirred;
Floating over them you heard
A low lamentable word:
“What is Victor come to win?
Who is he that let him in?
I have fasted, I have wept,
Watched and prayed and never slept,
Given gold and bent the knee
In the shrines of over sea,
That I should not ride with thee.”

Then the knight stood still and said,
“I am damned, and thou art dead,
Therefore thou shalt lay thy head
Where my heart burns still for thee;
Thou shalt sit upon my knee,
Strain thy arms to cling to me.
Wherefore lavish gold and fee
On the saints thou shalt not see,
On the shrines thou hast forsworn?
Thou wilt be more wise at morn;
For the lamps of hell burn steady,
And the horse of hell is ready.”

“Am I damned, and art thou dead?
God and Heaven are overhead.
They are not forsworn,” she said.
Then the bier and flowers were stirred
Faintly at the faithful word;
Then the knight drew very near,
And the church was full of fear;
Wings of the black cherubim
Made the altar lights burn dim.
Then he rent the shroud in twain,
Then he cried as one in pain,
“By the deed that we have done,
By the weird that we have won,
Yea, by Mary, most of might,
Yea, by Jesu, Light of Light,
Thou shalt ride with me to-night.”
Then the lady sat upright,
All the other terrors fled,
For she did as he had said.