The Death of Sir Launcelot; And Other Poems (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 Excerpt: ... The DEATH of SIR LAUNCELOT. At Canterbury seven years a monk Sir Launcelot had abode. For Arthur passed, And all the goodly fellowship of knights Broken and scattered through his mighty sin With Guinevere, he sought to purge his guilt By prayers and fasting and the biting scourge Within the holy life, till chastened love, Freed from the clogging dross of earthly passion, Leap a shooting flame upward to Heaven. Seven years he there abode, and ever grew To holier ways, in spiritual might As great as erst his prowess in the lists, When first amongst the knights he overthrew All comers in the j ousts and won the prize. And there he learned the smallness of his fame And all the greatness of his sin with power To drag down Arthur's mighty realm to ruin. And from the bitterness of that vast grief He fed his soul with constant tears to bloom In penitential fruits, for he was come To be a holy man with gift to see That time is shadow of eternity, And all the uses of our mortal hours But vanity, save as the generous seed Sown for the reaping in high heaven's demesne. And so Sir Launcelot waxed in holiness; And from the ashes of his sinful past Stirred by the ceaseless breath of penitence, Blew, first, the fainting spark of higher love, And last, the glowing fire, whose lambent flame Eat out the grossness of the carnal will, And, then, with ardent tongue aspiring leaped To union with celestial fires, whence came The heat and quickening of its swift desire. And in the furnace of that inward love The man was changed beyond all mortal know-ing; For he had dwined away to ghostliness, Until the shining spirit burned and glowed Through flesh and bone worn to translucency. And all his face shone like Sir Galahad's, Who saw the Holy Grail, and like to hers, The virgin sister...