Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE KNIGHTS AT RINGSTEAD: 1. REGRET, by RACHEL ANNAND TAYLOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE KNIGHTS AT RINGSTEAD: 1. REGRET, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: How was I to know
Last Line: "rot on,"" god saith, ""within the foss of death."
Subject(s): Death; Knights & Knighthood; Love; Regret; Dead, The


[Of a Knight whose Lady died before he knew his love for her.]

How was I to know
When you lived, long ago,
The sorcery in you,—that you could be,
Once dead, a white magician wasting me
From flaming crucibles of weary spells?

And, was I to know
I could be plaguèd so
By those tired hands, like lilies white and cold,
That flowered from out your falling sleeves of gold?
With a desire accurst for them I thirst.

Ah! Was I to know,
Of all fantastic woe,
Your russet hair was of the hue to stain
For ever the long night of dreams? What pain
That constellation dyes through the pale skies!

Nay! And I did not know
When, mid the tall flambeaux,
On the great catafalque, sad state you kept,
That round your brows, a flickering lustre, crept
To be your aureole,—my dying soul.

Alas! I did not know,
Who lightly let you go,
That Death would be a mirror to show clear
The miracle that blinded me too near.—
With masque and madrigal I paid you all.

Therefore, now, now I know
I should have loved you.—Oh!
I lost with you all music, valour, light
Of things immortal. To the baffled knight
"Rot on," God saith, "within the foss of Death."





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