BETA

How Galahad came to Camelot. 1

Being a fragment from a Song, sung by Merlin, at a great feast
held by King Arthur, after the achievement of the Grail-
Quest.

Merlin.

‘ At the solemn feast of Pentecost, Arthur the king and his chosen
knights1
‘ Sate, as we sit in the Court of Camelot, side by side at the Table Round ;2
‘ None held converse, none made music, none knew hunger, none were
athirst—3
‘ All possessed with the same strange longing—all fulfilled with one
awful hope—4
* These lines were written before the appearance of Mr. Tennyson’s last volume of
poems, and follow a different version of the Norman-French romance to that adopted
by the Laureate in his ‘ Quest of the Holy Grail.’ A.P.G.
‘ Each of us fearing even to whisper what he felt to his bosom friend,5
‘ Lest the spell should be snapt in sunder.6
Thus we sate, awaiting a
sign,—7
‘ When on a sudden, out of the darkness blared the bugle that hangs at
the gate.8
‘ Loud the barbican leaped on its hinges, and the hollow porch, and the
vacant hall,9
‘ And the roofs of the long unlighted corridors, echoed the advent of
unknown feet—10
‘ The feet of a stranger approaching the threshold step by step irresistibly ;11
‘ Till yonder door opened, and through it strode to the table, the Virgin
Knight,12
‘ Strode and stood with unlifted vizor. Fear fell on all—save only the
King—,13
‘ Up rose Arthur, unbarred his helmet, shone confessed the coun-
tenance chaste ;14
‘ Then, for so the spirit inspired him, set the youth on the Perilous Seat,15
‘ And the air, at his sessions, mightily thundered ; and paled the firelight
—paled the lamps.16
‘ Such a sudden stream, a splendour flooded the feast with miraculous
light.17
‘ Whilst, O wonder ! round the table, stoled in samite, white exceedingly18
‘ Passed the Presence ! mystical, shadowy, ghostly-gliding, the Holy
Grail—19
‘ Passed—though none could its shape discover, nay, not even the Virgin
Knight.20
‘ Passed, and passing ministered manna, angels’ food, at the Table Round.21
‘ Passed—passed with strains seraphic, incense odours, rainbow hues ;22
‘ Passed—passed, and as it entered, suddenly melted out of sight.’23
Alfred Perceval Graves.