Page:Collected poems Robinson, Edwin Arlington.djvu/322

 Their faces, and he saw the tale was true That he had lately drawn from solemn strangers.

"Well, Dagonet, and by your leave," he said, "I'll rest my lonely relics for a while On this rock that was mine and now is yours. I favor the succession; for you know Far more than many doctors, though your doubt Is your peculiar poison. I foresaw Long since, and I have latterly been told What moves in this commotion down below To show men what it means. It means the end If men whose tongues had less to say to me Than had their shoulders are adept enough To know; and you may pray for me or not, Sir Friend, Sir Dagonet." "Sir fool, you mean," Dagonet said, and gazed on Merlin sadly : "I'll never pray again for anything, And last of all for this that you behold The smouldering faggot of unlovely bones That God has given to me to call Myself. When Merlin comes to Dagonet for prayer, It is indeed the end." "And in the end Are more beginnings, Dagonet, than men Shall name or know today. It was the end Of Arthur's insubstantial majesty When to him and his knights the Grail foreshowed The quest of life that was to be the death Of many, and the slow discouraging Of many more. Or do I err in this?"