Page:Tristram of Lyonesse and other poems (IA tristramoflyonesswinrich).pdf/103



that same night in Cornwall oversea Couched at Queen Iseult's hand, against her knee, With keen kind eyes that read her whole heart's pain Fast at wide watch lay Tristram's hound Hodain, The goodliest and the mightiest born on earth, That many a forest day of fiery mirth Had plied his craft before them; and the queen Cherished him, even for those dim years between, More than of old in those bright months far flown When ere a blast of Tristram's horn was blown Each morning as the woods rekindled, ere Day gat full empire of the glimmering air, Delight of dawn would quicken him, and fire Spring and pant in his breath with bright desire To be among the dewy ways on quest: But now perforce at restless-hearted rest He chafed through days more barren than the sand, Soothed hardly but soothed only with her hand, Though fain to fawn thereon and follow, still With all his heart and all his loving will