Page:Poet Lore, volume 3, 1891.djvu/481

Rh :Har. Mother!
 * Mor. [To .] I leave the court; come you with me?
 * Edwin. I go with you; come, mount, let us away!
 * Edw. By this the last breath of my lab' ring breast,

By this the last strife of my waning life, Acknowledge him.
 * Mor.If he will come, he'll find

His homage at my castle!
 * Har.I will come!
 * Mor. Then come; bring ladders and besieging train;

My walls, like granite lips, retain the words That I deny to thee.
 * Edw. [Rising.] Ye shall not go—help, Heaven!

Resistless death Steals swiftly in my breast
 * Sti.Look to the king.

How pale he grows!
 * Edw.Lift up the chair, lift up—

Bear me away from this accursed life, In quiet let me die. Woe—woe, to you. And woe to you—lost Saxon people—woe!

What here has taken place. I know but this: That when the gallows' hand had gripped me fast, And life and hope were shadowed by grim death, That, suddenly, before my wondering eyes, The white mane of your flying stallion shot As 'twere an angel's wing; this, too, I know,— How, bending from the saddle as you passed, You seized the hangman with a death-like grip And hurled him down. So, Harold, my dear lord, May heaven's thunder smite me to the ground If e'er I speak another word than this: God save King Harold, England's rightful king! [Kneels before him; kisses his hand.