Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Helen GrayCone

1346 The Ride to the Lady

“NOW since mine even is come at last,—

For I have been the sport of steel,

And hot life ebbeth from me fast,

And I in saddle roll and reel,—

Come bind me, bind me on my steed!

Of fingering leech I have no need!”

The chaplain clasped his mailëd knee.

“Nor need I more thy whine and thee!

No time is left my sins to tell;

But look ye bind me, bind me well!”

They bound him strong with leathern thong,

For the ride to the lady should be long.

Day was dying; the poplars fled,

Thin as ghosts, on a sky blood-red;

Out of the sky the fierce hue fell,

And made the streams as the streams of hell.

All his thoughts as a river flowed,

Flowed aflame as fleet he rode,

Onward flowed to her abode,

Ceased at her feet, mirrored her face.

(Viewless Death apace, apace,

Rode behind him in that race.)

“Face, mine own, mine alone,

Trembling lips my lips have known,

Birdlike stir of the dove-soft eyne

Under the kisses that make them mine!

Only of thee, of thee, my need!

Only to thee, to thee, I speed!”

The Cross flashed by at the highway’s turn;

In a beam of the moon the Face shone stern.

Far behind had the fight’s din died;

The shuddering stars in the welkin wide

Crowded, crowded, to see him ride.

The beating hearts of the stars aloof

Kept time to the beat of the horse’s hoof.

“What is the throb that thrills so sweet?

Heart of my lady, I feel it beat!”

But his own strong pulse the fainter fell,

Like the failing tongue of a hushing bell.

The flank of the great-limbed steed was wet

Not alone with the started sweat.

Fast, and fast, and the thick black wood

Arched its cowl like a black friar’s hood;

Fast, and fast, and they plunged therein,—

But the viewless rider rode to win.

Out of the wood to the highway’s light

Galloped the great-limbed steed in fright;

The mail clashed cold, and the bad owl cried,

And the weight of the dead oppressed his side.

Fast, and fast, by the road he knew;

And slow, and slow, the stars withdrew;

And the waiting heaven turned weirdly blue,

As a garment worn of a wizard grim.

He neighed at the gate in the morning dim.

She heard no sound before her gate,

Though very quiet was her bower.

All was as her hand had left it late:

The needle slept on the broidered vine,

Where the hammer and spikes of the passion-flower

Her fashioning did wait.

On the couch lay something fair,

With steadfast lips and veilëd eyne;

But the lady was not there.

On the wings of shrift and prayer,

Pure as winds that winnow snow,

Her soul had risen twelve hours ago.

The burdened steed at the barred gate stood,

No whit the nearer to his goal.

Now God’s great grace assoil the soul

That went out in the wood!