Page:Arthur Machen, A Novelist of Ecstasy and Sin.djvu/40



O gift of the everlasting: O wonderful and hidden mystery. Many secrets have been vouchsafed to me, I have been long acquainted with the wisdom of the trees; Ash and oak and elm have communicated to me from my boyhood, The birch and the hazel and all the trees of the greenwood have not been dumb. There is a caldron rimmed with pearls of whose gifts I am not ignorant; I will speak little of it; its treasures are known to the Bards. Many went on the search of Caer-Pedryfan, Seven alone returned with Arthur, but my spirit was present. Seven are the apple-trees in a beautiful orchard; I have eaten of their fruit which is not bestowed on Saxons. I am not ignorant of a Head which is glorious and venerable; It made perpetual entertainment for the warriors, their joys would have been immortal;