Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BALLAD OF KING GRADLON, by LOWELL C. FROST


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BALLAD OF KING GRADLON, by                    
First Line: The sea still sweeps to brittany
Last Line: Nor the false priest, gwenole.
Subject(s): Yale University


The sea still sweeps to Brittany,
But once, in Gradlon's reign,
It swept the land for a double league
As it never has again.

The wave had won the peasant's door,
It groped at his roof-tree,
And what was once the low broad land
Was now the broad gray sea.

On his castle walls King Gradlon watched;
"God pardon us," he cried,
"Some witch hath paid the devil well
For power o'er the tide."

Then Gwenole, the priest, spoke up,
"'Tis ill that we should stay,
With the sea waist-high upon the road,
And the hills a league away.

"For I shall carry the great gold Cross,
And the sacred Host take you;
Borne high above this tide, they will
Its soul-bought power subdue."

King Gradlon knelt before the Host,
But his daughter whispered low.
The Host he left, but he took the maid
Clasped tight on his saddle bow.

They rode out on the drowned highway,
And the sky hung low and black.
The sea on their plunging horses' flanks
Shone white in the lightning's track.

Then Gwenole, the priest, spoke up,
"'Tis ill you should not know,
The girl that clings behind you there,
'Tis she hath done this woe.
The sacred Host was yours to take:
Thy daughter now must go.

"O cast her down from your saddle-tree!
Devils to devils pray;
She has called on the sea, let it take her now --
It is God's word: Obey!"

King Gradlon looked upon the skies;
They swirled down wrathfully.
"God strike me if I do a wrong."
And "Ay," said Gwenole.

The old King groaned, "My girl, my girl --
God's will be done," he said,
And clenched his teeth and thrust her off:
She fell as one falls dead.

The lightning, like the sword of God,
Leapt sudden to the sea . . .
Thereafter no man saw the king
Nor the false priest, Gwenole.





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