Page:Poems (1915) G K Chesterton.djvu/43

 And I saw my lady afar and her holy freedom upon her,

A head, without veil, averted, and not to be turned with charms,

And I heard above bannerets blown the intolerant trumpets of honour,

That usher with iron laughter the coming of Christian arms.

My shield hangs stainless still; but I shall not go where they praise it,

A sword is still at my side, but I shall not ride with the King.

Only to walk and to walk and to stun my soul and amaze it,

A day with the stone and the sparrow and every marvellous thing.

I have trod the curves of the Crescent, in the maze of them that adore it,

Curved around doorless chambers and unbeholden abodes,

But I walk in the maze no more; on the sign of the cross I swore it,

The wild white cross of freedom, the sign of the white cross-roads.

And the land shall leave me or take, and the Woman take me or leave me,

There shall be no more Night, or nightmares seen in a glass;