Collected Works (Vol. II)

THE EARL’S QUEST gt The wood broke suddenly upon the beach, Curved, flat ; the water oozing on the sand Stretched waveless out beyond. where eye might reach, : A grey and shapeless place, a hopeless land ! Yet in that vast, that weary sad expanse The Earl saw three strange objects on the strand , | His keen eye noted at the firstborn glance, And recognised as pointers for his soul ; So that his soul was fervid in the dance, Knowing itself one step more near the goal, Should he but make the perfect choice of these. Farthest, loose tethered, at a stake’s control, A shallop rocked before the sullen breeze. Midway, a hermit’s hut stood solitary, A dim light set therein. Near and at ease A jolly well-lit inn—no phantom airy ! Solid and warm, short snatches of light song Issuing cheery now and then. ‘‘ Be wary!” Quoth the wise Earl, ‘‘ I wander very long Far from my quest, assuredly to fall Sideways each step towards the House of Wrong, ‘Were but one choice demented. Choice is small Here though. (A flash of insight in his mind) Which of these three gets answer to its call? ‘‘Yon shallop?—leave to Galahad! Re- signed Yon hermit be to welcome Lancelot ! For me—the inn—what fate am I to find ? ‘Who cares? wot P— But in the outré, the obscure, the occult? My Master is of might to lift me what Shall I seek ever—do ye “Hangs, veil of glamour, on my ‘ Quisque vult,’ The morion’s motto: to exhaust the cross, Bidding it glow with roses—the result ‘¢ What way he will : may be adventure’s loss Is gain to common sense ; whereby I guess | Wise men have hidden Mount Biagenos? ‘ And all its height from fools who looked no less For snows to lurk beneath the roots of yew, Or in the caverns grim with gloominess ‘‘ Hid deep i? the forests they would wander through, Instead of travelling the straightforward road. I call them fools—well, I have been one too. ‘“ Now then at least for the secure abode And way of luck —knight-errantry once doffed, The ox set kicking at his self-set goad, ‘* Here’s for the hostel and the light aloft ! Roderic, my lad! there’s pelf to pay the score For ale and cakes and venison and a soft ‘“ Bed we have missed this three months— now no more Of folly! Avaunt, old Merlin’s nonsense lore! Ho there! Travellers! Mine host! Open the door !” Desunt cetera. In the second part—a joyous inn fireside —the Earl refuses power, knowledge, and love (offered him by a guest) by the symbolic drink of ale and the cherry cheeks of the maid. In part three she, coming secretly to him, warns him he must destroy the three vices, faith, hope, and charity. This he does easily, save the love of the figure of the Crucified; but at last conquering this, he attains. [These were never written.] 1 The mystic mountain of the Rosicrucians,