Volume I Part 24 (2/2)

Beside the first pool, near the wood, A dead tree in set horror stood, Peeled and disjointed, stark as rood;

Since thunder-stricken, years ago, Fixed in the spectral strain and throe Wherewith it struggled from the blow:

A monumental tree, alone, That will not bend in storms, nor groan, But break off sudden like a stone.

Its lifeless shadow lies oblique Upon the pool where, javelin-like, The star-rays quiver while they strike.

”Drink,” said the lady, very still-- ”Be holy and cold.” He did her will And drank the starry water chill.

The next pool they came near unto Was bare of trees; there, only grew Straight flags, and lilies just a few

Which sullen on the water sate And leant their faces on the flat, As weary of the starlight-state.

”Drink,” said the lady, grave and slow-- ”_World's use_ behoveth thee to know.”

He drank the bitter wave below.

The third pool, girt with th.o.r.n.y bushes And flaunting weeds and reeds and rushes That winds sang through in mournful gushes,

Was whitely smeared in many a round By a slow slime; the starlight swound Over the ghastly light it found.

”Drink,” said the lady, sad and slow-- ”_World's love_ behoveth thee to know.”

He looked to her commanding so;

Her brow was troubled, but her eye Struck clear to his soul. For all reply He drank the water suddenly,--

Then, with a deathly sickness, pa.s.sed Beside the fourth pool and the last, Where weights of shadow were downcast

From yew and alder and rank trails Of nightshade clasping the trunk-scales And flung across the intervals

From yew to yew: who dares to stoop Where those dank branches overdroop, Into his heart the chill strikes up,

He hears a silent gliding coil, The snakes strain hard against the soil, His foot slips in their slimy oil,

And toads seem crawling on his hand, And clinging bats but dimly scanned Full in his face their wings expand.

A paleness took the poet's cheek: ”Must I drink _here_?” he seemed to seek The lady's will with utterance meek:

”Ay, ay,” she said, ”it so must be;”

(And this time she spake cheerfully) ”Behoves thee know _World's cruelty_.”

He bowed his forehead till his mouth Curved in the wave, and drank unloth As if from rivers of the south;

His lips sobbed through the water rank, His heart paused in him while he drank, His brain beat heart-like, rose and sank,

And he swooned backward to a dream Wherein he lay 'twixt gloom and gleam, With Death and Life at each extreme:

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