WHY wait for Arthur? He too long has slept. He shall not hear you—no, nor heed your moan, More than the wail of those fair Queens that kept Their watch for him what months in Avalon! He shall not wake for any mother's son Nor mother's daughter of them all in tears, His knights, his ladies. How then for this one, You the last blossom of our world's lost years? —Ah, let him sleep. For see how in the wood, Under the dead oak, green new saplings spring, How the thorn blossoms, while birds cry aloud In scorn of grief. And, Lady, by the rood! There rides a knight, new-armed and questing proud, Who shouts, "The king is dead. Long live the King!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WAYS OF TIME by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE POET AND THE BABY by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR HUGH SELWYN MAUBERLEY: 6. YEUX GLAUQUES by EZRA POUND REJECTED ADDRESSES: THE BABY'S DEBUT, BY W. W. by JAMES SMITH (1775-1839) MAXIMS FOR THE OLD HOUSE: THE BEST ROOM by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH MASQUE AT THE MARRIAGE OF THE EARL OF SOMERSET: THIRD SQUIRE by THOMAS CAMPION TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 4. THE PLOUGHBOY by EDWARD CARPENTER |