Page:Collected poems Robinson, Edwin Arlington.djvu/324

 "No, Dagonet, you cannot tell me why, Although your tongue is eager with wild hope To tell me more than I may tell myself About myself. All this that was to be Might show to man how vain it were to wreck The world for self if it were all in vain. When I began with Arthur I could see In each bewildered man who dots the earth A moment with his days a groping thought Of an eternal will, strangely endowed With merciful illusions whereby self Becomes the. will itself and each man swells In fond accordance with his agency. Now Arthur, Modred, Lancelot, and Gawaine Are swollen thoughts of this eternal will Which have no other way to find the way That leads them on to their inheritance Than by the time-infuriating flame Of a wrecked empire, lighted by the torch Of woman, who, together with the light That Galahad found, is yet to light the world." A wan smile crept across the weary face Of Dagonet the fool : "If you knew that Before your burial in Broceliande, No wonder your eternal will accords With all your dreams of what the world requires. My master, I may say this unto you Because I am a fool, and fear no man; My fear is that I've been a groping thought That never swelled enough. You say the torch Of woman and the light that Galahad found Are some day to illuminate the world? I'll meditate on that. The world is done For me; and I have been, to make men laugh,