A ballad.
I Can love thee well, believe
me,
As a sister true;
Other love, Sir Knight, would grieve me,
Sore my heart would rue.
Calmly would I see thee going,
Calmly, too, appear;
For those tears in silence flowing
Find no answer here.
Thus she speaks,-he hears
her sadly,-
How his heartstrings
bleed!
In his arms he clasps her madly,
Then he mounts his steed.
From the Switzer land collects he
All his warriors brave;-
Cross on breast, their course directs
he
To the Holy Grave.
In triumphant march advancing,
Onward moves the host,
While their morion plumes are dancing
Where the foes are most.
Mortal terror strikes the Paynim
At the chieftains
name;
But the knights sad thoughts
enchain him-
Grief consumes his frame.
Twelve long months, with courage
daring,
Peace he strives to
find;
Then, at last, of rest despairing,
Leaves the host behind;
Sees a ship, whose sails are swelling,
Lie on Joppas
strand;
Ships him homeward for her dwelling,
In his own loved land.
Now behold the pilgrim weary
At her castle gate!
But alas! these accents dreary
Seal his mournful fate:-
She thou seekst her
troth hath plighted
To all-gracious heaven;
To her God she was united
Yesterday at even!
To his fathers home forever
Bids he now adieu;
Sees no more his arms and beaver,
Nor his steed so true.
Then descends he, sadly, slowly,-
None suspect the sight,-
For a garb of penance lowly
Wears the noble knight.
Soon he now, the tempest braving,
Builds an humble shed,
Where oer the lime-trees
darkly waving,
Peeps the convents
head.
From the orb of days first
gleaming,
Till his race has run,
Hope in every feature beaming,
There he sits alone.
Toward the convent straining ever
His unwearied eyes,-
From her casement looking never
Till it open flies,
Till the loved one, soft advancing,
Shows her gentle face,
Oer the vale her sweet eye
glancing,
Full of angel-grace.
Then he seeks his bed of rushes,
Stilled all grief and
pain,
Slumbering calm, till mornings
blushes
Waken life again.
Days and years fleet on, yet never
Breathes he plaint or
sighs,
On her casement gazing ever
Till it open flies.
Till the loved one, soft advancing,
Shows her gentle face,
Oer the vale her sweet eyes
glancing,
Full of angel-grace.
But at length, the morn returning
Finds him dead and chill;-
Pale and wan, his gaze, with yearning,
Seeks her casement still.
The fight with the dragon.
Why run the crowd? What means
the throng
That rushes fast the streets along?
Can Rhodes a prey to flames, then,
be?
In crowds they gather hastily,
And, on his steed, a noble knight
Amid the rabble, meets my sight;
Behind him-prodigy unknown!-
A monster fierce theyre drawing
on;
A dragon stems it by its shape,
With wide and crocodile-like
jaw,
And on the knight and dragon gape,
In turns, the people, filled
with awe.
And thousand voices shout with glee
The fiery dragon come and
see,
Who hind and flock tore limb from
limb!-
The hero see, who vanquished him!
Full many a one before him went,
To dare the fearful combat bent,
But none returned home from the
fight;
Honor ye, then, the noble knight!
And toward the convent move they
all,
While met in hasty council
there
The brave knights of the Hospital,
St. John the Baptists
Order, were.
Up to the noble master sped
The youth, with firm but modest
tread;
The people followed with wild shout,
And stood the landing-place about,
While thus outspoke that daring
one:
My knightly duty I have done.
The dragon that laid waste the land
Has fallen beneath my conquering
hand.
The way is to the wanderer free,
The shepherd oer the
plains may rove;
Across the mountains joyfully
The pilgrim to the shrine
may move.
But sternly looked the prince, and
said:
The heros part thou
well hast played
By courage is the true knight known,-
A dauntless spirit thou hast shown.
Yet speak! What duty first
should he
Regard, who would Christs
champion be,
Who wears the emblem of the Cross?-
And all turned pale at his discourse.
Yet he replied, with noble grace,
While blushingly he bent him
low:
That he deserves so proud
a place
Obedience best of all can
show.
My son, the master
answering spoke,
Thy daring act this duty
broke.
The conflict that the law forbade
Thou hast with impious mind essayed.-
Lord, judge when all to thee
is known,
The other spake, in steadfast tone,-
For I the laws commands
and will
Purposed with honor to fulfil.
I went not out with heedless thought.
Hoping the monster dread to
find;
To conquer in the fight I sought
By cunning, and a prudent
mind.
Five of our noble Order,
then
(Our faith could boast no better
men),
Had by their daring lost their life,
When thou forbadest us the strife.
And yet my heart I felt a prey
To gloom, and panted for the fray;
Ay, even in the stilly night,
In vision gasped I in the fight;
And when the glimmering morning
came,
And of fresh troubles knowledge
gave,
A raging grief consumed my frame,
And I resolved the thing to
brave.
And to myself I thus began:
What ist adorns the
youth, the man?
What actions of the heroes bold,
Of whom in ancient song were
told,
Blind heathendom raised up on high
To godlike fame and dignity?
The world, by deeds known far and
wide,
From monsters fierce they purified;
The lion in the fight they met,
And wrestled with the minotaur,
Unhappy victims free to set,
And were not sparing of their
gore.
Are none but Saracens
to feel
The prowess of the Christian steel?
False idols only shall be brave?
His mission is the world to save;
To free it, by his sturdy arm,
From every hurt, from every harm;
Yet wisdom must his courage bend,
And cunning must with strength contend.
Thus spake I oft, and went alone
The monsters traces
to espy;
When on my mind a bright light shone,-
I have it! was
my joyful cry.
To thee I went, and thus
I spake:
My homeward journey I would
take.
Thou, lord, didst grant my prayer
to me,-
Then safely traversed I the sea;
And, when I reached my native strand,
I caused a skilful artists
hand
To make a dragons image,
true
To his that now so well I knew.
On feet of measure short was placed
Its lengthy bodys heavy
load;
A scaly coat of mail embraced
The back, on which it fiercely
showed.
Its stretching neck appeared
to swell,
And, ghastly as a gate of hell,
Its fearful jaws were open wide,
As if to seize the prey it tried;
And in its black mouth, ranged about,
Its teeth in prickly rows stood
out;
Its tongue was like a sharp-edged
sword,
And lightning from its small eyes
poured;
A serpents tail of many a
fold
Ended its bodys monstrous
span,
And round itself with fierceness
rolled,
So as to clasp both steed
and man.
I formed the whole to nature
true,
In skin of gray and hideous hue;
Part dragon it appeared, part snake,
Engendered in the poisonous lake.
And, when the figure was complete,
A pair of dogs I chose me, fleet,
Of mighty strength, of nimble pace,
Inured the savage boar to chase;
The dragon, then, I made them bait,
Inflaming them to fury dread,
With their sharp teeth to seize
it straight,
And with my voice their motions
led.
And, where the bellys
tender skin
Allowed the tooth to enter in,
I taught them how to seize it there,
And, with their fangs, the part
to tear.
I mounted, then, my Arab steed,
The offspring of a noble breed;
My hand a dart on high held forth,
And, when I had inflamed his wrath,
I stuck my sharp spurs in his side,
And urged him on as quick
as thought,
And hurled my dart in circles wide
As if to pierce the beast
I sought.
And though my steed reared
high in pain,
And champed and foamed beneath the
rein,
And though the dogs howled fearfully,
Till they were calmed neer
rested I.
This plan I ceaselessly pursued,
Till thrice the moon had been renewed;
And when they had been duly taught,
In swift ships here I had them brought;
And since my foot these shores has
pressed
Flown has three mornings
narrow span;
I scarce allowed my limbs to rest
Ere I the mighty task began.
For hotly was my bosom stirred
When of the lands fresh grief
I heard;
Shepherds of late had been his prey,
When in the marsh they went astray.
I formed my plans then hastily,-
My heart was all that counselled
me.
My squires instructing to proceed,
I sprang upon my well-trained steed,
And, followed by my noble pair
Of dogs, by secret pathways
rode,
Where not an eye could witness bear,
To find the monsters
fell abode.
Thou, lord, must know the
chapel well,
Pitched on a rocky pinnacle,
That overlooks the distant isle;
A daring mind twas raised
the pile.
Though humble, mean, and small it
shows
Its walls a miracle enclose,-
The Virgin and her infant Son,
Vowed by the three kings of Cologne.
By three times thirty steps is led
The pilgrim to the giddy height;
Yet, when he gains it with bold
tread,
Hes quickened by his
Saviours sight.
Deep in the rock to which
it clings,
A cavern dark its arms outflings,
Moist with the neighboring moorlands
dew,
Where heavens bright rays
can neer pierce through.
There dwelt the monster, there he
lay,
His spoil awaiting, night and day;
Like the hell-dragon, thus he kept
Watch near the shrine, and never
slept;
And if a hapless pilgrim chanced
To enter on that fatal way,
From out his ambush quick advanced
The foe, and seized him as
his prey.
I mounted now the rocky height;
Ere I commenced the fearful fight,
There knelt I to the infant Lord,
And pardon for my sins implored.
Then in the holy fane I placed
My shining armor round my waist,
My right hand grasped my javelin,
The fight then went I to begin;
Instructions gave my squires among,
Commanding them to tarry there;
Then on my steed I nimbly sprung,
And gave my spirit to Gods
care.
Soon as I reached the level
plain,
My dogs found out the scent amain;
My frightened horse soon reared
on high,-
His fear I could not pacify,
For, coiled up in a circle, lo!
There lay the fierce and hideous
foe,
Sunning himself upon the ground.
Straight at him rushed each nimble
hound;
Yet thence they turned, dismayed
and fast,
When he his gaping jaws opd
wide,
Vomited forth his poisonous blast,
And like the howling jackal
cried.
But soon their courage I
restored;
They seized with rage the foe abhorred,
While I against the beasts
loins threw
My spear with sturdy arm and true:
But, powerless as a bulrush frail,
It bounded from his coat of mail;
And ere I could repeat the throw,
My horse reeled wildly to and fro
Before his basilisk-like look,
And at his poison-teeming
breath,-
Sprang backward, and with terror
shook,
While I seemed doomed to certain
death.
Then from my steed I nimbly
sprung,
My sharp-edged sword with vigor
swung;
Yet all in vain my strokes I plied,-
I could not pierce his rock-like
hide.
His tail with fury lashing round,
Sudden he bore me to the ground.
His jaws then opening fearfully,
With angry teeth he struck at me;
But now my dogs, with wrath new-born,
Rushed on his belly with fierce
bite,
So that, by dreadful anguish torn,
He howling stood before my
sight.
And ere he from their teeth
was free,
I raised myself up hastily,
The weak place of the foe explored,
And in his entrails plunged my sword,
Sinking it even to the hilt;
Black gushing forth, his blood was
spilt.
Down sank he, burying in his fall
Me with his bodys giant ball,
So that my senses quickly fled;
And when I woke with strength
renewed,
The dragon in his blood lay dead,
While round me grouped my
squires all stood.
The joyous shouts, so long suppressed,
Now burst from every hearers
breast,
Soon as the knight these words had
spoken;
And ten times gainst the
high vault broken,
The sound of mingled voices rang,
Re-echoing back with hollow clang.
The Orders sons demand, in
haste,
That with a crown his brow be graced,
And gratefully in triumph now
The mob the youth would bear
along
When, lo! the master knit his brow,
And called for silence mongst
the throng.
And said, The dragon that
this land
Laid waste, thou slewst with
daring hand;
Although the peoples idol
thou,
The Orders foe I deem thee
now.
Thy breast has to a fiend more base
Than een this dragon given
place.
The serpent that the heart most
stings,
And hatred and destruction brings,
That spirit is, which stubborn lies,
And impiously cast off the
rein,
Despising orders sacred ties;
Tis that destroys the
world amain.
The Mameluke makes of courage
boast,
Obedience decks the Christian most;
For where our great and blessed
Lord
As a mere servant walked abroad,
The fathers, on that holy ground,
This famous Order chose to found,
That arduous duty to fulfil
To overcome ones own self-will!
Twas idle glory moved thee
there:
So take thee hence from out
my sight!
For who the Lords yoke cannot
bear,
To wear his cross can have
no right.
A furious shout now raise the crowd,
The place is filled with outcries
loud;
The brethren all for pardon cry;
The youth in silence droops his
eye-
Mutely his garment from him throws,
Kisses the masters hand,
and-goes.
But he pursues him with his gaze,
Recalls him lovingly, and says:
Let me embrace thee now,
my son!
The harder fight is gained
by thee.
Take, then, this cross-the
guerdon won
By self-subdued humility.
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