Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THREE BRETON POEMS: 3. AZENOR, by LEWIS MORRIS (1833-1907)


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THREE BRETON POEMS: 3. AZENOR, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Seamen, seamen, tell me true
Last Line: Protect all toilers on the sea!
Subject(s): Sea; Ocean


"SEAMEN, seamen, tell me true,
Is there any of your crew
Who in Armor town has seen
Azenor the kneeling queen?"

"We have seen her oft indeed,
Kneeling in the self-same place;
Brave her heart, though pale her face,
White her soul, though dark her weed."

I.

Of a long-past summer's day
Envoys came from far away,
Mailed in silver, clothed with gold,
High on snorting chargers bold.

When the warder spied them near,
To the King he went, and cried,
"Twelve bold knights come pricking here:
Shall I open to them wide?"

"Opened let the great gates be;
See the knights are welcomed all;
Spread the board and deck the hall,
We will feast them royally."

"By our Prince's high command,
Who one day shall be our King,
We come to ask a precious thing --
Azenor your daughter's hand."

"Gladly will we grant your prayer:
Brave the youth, as we have heard.
Tall is she, milkwhite and fair,
Gentle as a singing bird."

Fourteen days high feast they made,
Fourteen days of dance and song;
Till the dawn the harpers played;
Mirth and joyance all day long.

"Now, my fair spouse, it is meet
That we turn us toward our home."
"As you will, my love, my sweet;
Where you are, there I would come."

II.

When his step-dame saw the bride,
Well-nigh choked with spleen was she:
"This pale-faced girl, this lump of pride --
And shall she be preferred to me?

"New things please men best, 'tis true,
And the old are cast aside.
Natheless, what is old and tried
Serves far better than the new."

Scarce eight months had passed away
When she to the Prince would come,
And with subtlety would say,
"Would you lose both wife and home?

"Have a care, lest what I tell
Should befall you; it were best
To have a care and guard you well,
'Ware the cuckoo in your nest."

"Madam, if the truth you tell,
Meet reward her crime shall earn,
First the round tower's straitest cell,
Then in nine days she shall burn."

III.

When the old King was aware,
Bitter tears the greybeard shed.
Tore in grief his white, white hair,
Crying, "Would God that I were dead."

And to all the seamen said,
"Good seamen, pray you tell me true,
Is there, then, any one of you
Can tell me if my child be dead?"

"My liege, as yet alive is she,
Though burned to-morrow shall she be:
But from her prison tower, O King!
Morning and eve we hear her sing.

"Morning and eve, from her fair throat
Issues the same sweet plaintive note,
'They are deceived; I kiss Thy rod:
Have pity on them, O my God!'"

IV.

Even as a lamb who gives its life
All meekly to the cruel knife,
White-robed she went, her soft feet bare,
Self-shrouded in her golden hair.

And as she to her dreadful fate
Fared on, poor innocent, meek and mild,
"Grave crime it were," cried small and great,
"To slay the mother and the child."

All wept sore, both small and great;
Only the step-dame smiling sate:
"Sure 'twere no evil deed, but good,
To kill the viper with her brood."

"Quick, good firemen, fan the fire
Till it leap forth fierce and red;
Fan it fierce as my desire:
She shall burn till she is dead."

Vain their efforts, all in vain,
Though they fanned and fanned again;
The more they blew, the embers gray
Faded and sank and died away.

When the judge the portent saw,
Dazed and sick with fear was he:
"She is a witch, she flouts the law;
Come, let us drown her in the sea."

V.

What saw you on the sea? A boat
Neither by sail nor oarsman sped;
And at the helm, to watch it float,
An angel white with wings outspread

A little boat, far out to sea,
And with her child a fair ladye,
Whom at her breast she sheltered well,
Like a white dove upon a shell.

She kissed, and clasped, and kissed again
His little back, his little feet,
Crooning a soft and tender strain,
"Da-da, my dear; da-da, my sweet.

"Ah, could your father see you, sweet,
A proud man should he be to-day;
But we on earth may never meet,
But he is lost and far away."

VI.

In Armor town is such affright
As never castle knew before,
For at the midmost hour of night
The wicked step-dame is no more.

"I see hell open at my side:
Oh, save me, in God's name, my son!
Your spouse was chaste; 'twas I who lied;
Oh, save me, for I am undone!"

Scarce had she checked her lying tongue,
A viper from her lips would glide,
With threatening fangs, which hissed and stung,
And pierced her marrow till she died.

Eftsoons, to foreign realms the knight
Went forth, by land and over sea;
Seeking in vain his lost delight,
O'er all the round, round world went he.

He sought her East, he sought her West,
Next to the hot South sped he forth,
Then, after many a fruitless quest,
He sought her in the gusty North.

There by some nameless island vast,
His anchor o'er the side he cast;
When by a brooklet's fairy spray,
He spies a little lad at play.

Fair are his locks, and blue his eyes,
As his lost love's or as the sea;
The good knight looking on them, sighs,
"Fair child, who may thy father be?"

"Sir, I have none save Him in heaven:
Long years ago he went away,
Ere I was born, and I am seven;
My mother mourns him night and day."

"Who is thy mother, child, and where?"
"She cleanses linen white and fair,
In yon clear stream." "Come, child, and we
Together will thy mother see."

He took the youngling by the hand,
And, as they passed the yellow strand,
The child's swift blood in pulse and arm
Leapt to his father's and grew warm.

"Rise up and look, oh mother dear;
It is my father who is here:
My father who was lost is come --
Oh, bless God for it! -- to his home."

They knelt and blessed His holy name,
Who is so good, and just, and mild,
Who joins the sire and wife and child:
And so to Brittany they came.

And may the blessed Trinity,
Protect all toilers on the sea!





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