Alone, unarmed, the Dragon King must go To seek the Cauldron by a magic shore, For gleaming harness wrought of wizard ore Is powerless against an unknown foe; The lonely Caer, walled with the flaming Bow, Lifts dark enchanted horns where wild seas roar, And in the moon's white path a mystic door Moves to strange music only Merlins know. Within, vast shapes and awful shadows start, While deathless gods who hold the wave-worn stairs Do ghostly battle with a hero's soul; But at his eagle cry their thonged shields part, And from the cloven fire the Chieftain bears High in his mighty grasp the star-rimmed Bowl. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON EXPLORATION by JAMES GALVIN KATIE LEE AND WILLIE GREY by JOSIE R. HUNT TAM I' THE KIRK by VIOLET JACOB GETTYSBURG [JULY 1-3, 1863] by JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE ON A MOURNER by ALFRED TENNYSON MY MOTHER by FLORENCE R. ANDREWS |