Blinded! Against that storm I was not strong;
I was a madman, rushing on a spear
In rapture. Take your Queen back to your heart,
Forgiven, but as for me—lift up your sword
And claim this forfeit soul.
(A distant chanting is heard.)
Arthur(raising his sword)
I have good cause.
I loved, and you have shamed me; more, undone
My life, my hope, my kingdom! (Letting his point fall.) No, I cannot.
Were we but met in the hot battle’s blood
I’d kill you for that cause. Now I am numbed;
And something from within me stays my hand.
Take my Queen pardoned to my heart, you plead.
Ah, Launcelot! were it merely man and woman,
Love should be wide and infinite as air
To meet her at the world’s end with my arms,
Even at the farthest erring. There’s no help.
A man may pardon, but the King may not.
The King is justice, or no more a King.
Launcelot
Forgiveness is yet kinglier. Harden not
Your heart for ever.
Arthur
Were there but a sign
From this charged heaven——
Launcelot
Look!
(A gleam has appeared in the paling sky and the chant grows nearer.)
(A gleam has appeared in the paling sky and the chant grows nearer.)
Arthur
Is there light
On earth again?
Launcelot
What strange stillness has seized upon the host?
What chant is that?
Voices
The King! The King! A wonder! Rome! Rome!
(Certain knights of either party return on the scene, and in their midst a white banner preceding aBishop,with a train of priests chanting. With a last remote peal of thunder the storm passes away.)
(Certain knights of either party return on the scene, and in their midst a white banner preceding aBishop,with a train of priests chanting. With a last remote peal of thunder the storm passes away.)
Bishop
Peace! Peace to you all! In the name of our Lord Jesu, peace! Our Holy Father on the seat of St. Peter hath sent me hither with his commands. Hasting I come even among your swords and spears; And this is the command that I am charged with. Launcelot shall render his Queen again to King Arthur; she shall not be harmed: And King Arthur shall be accorded with Sir Launcelot. This, upon pain of interdiction of the whole realm of Britain, is the high commandment of God’s regent upon earth, our Holy Father in Rome. My sons, will you obey?
(ArthurandLauncelotbow their heads.)
(ArthurandLauncelotbow their heads.)
Arthur
So far as it be peace betwixt us, I obey.
Launcelot
I go to bring the Queen.
(He goes away R. asGawaineis brought in wounded, leaning on two of his knights.)
(He goes away R. asGawaineis brought in wounded, leaning on two of his knights.)
Gawaine
Ah, there! Let me but reach him; hurt though I be, I will satisfy my vengeance.
Bishop
Man of blood, your hour is past. Exorcise from you this vain rage and lust of vengeance. Bethink you of your sins, and of God’s peace. The King receives his Queen again and is accorded with Sir Launcelot.
Gawaine
Not all the priests in Christendom shall force
My will to this. I’ll say naught of the Queen;
But him will I proclaim still to the world
Traitor.
Arthur
Ah, Gawaine, have we not enough
Of hatred?
Gawaine
Though I seek him through seven realms
I’ll have my retribution, death for death.
(He faints.)
Arthur
He has swooned. Bear him to his tent.
(Gawaineis borne off by his friends.)
Bishop
Pass now.
My errand is performed. Peace be upon you.
[The priests resume their chant, and theBishopand his train pass off.
[The priests resume their chant, and theBishopand his train pass off.
Arthur
Look, where she comes.
Launcelotreturns, leadingGuenevereby the hand.
Launcelot
My King, I bring to you your Queen again.
(They kneel down beforeArthur,thenLauncelotraisesGuenevere.)
(They kneel down beforeArthur,thenLauncelotraisesGuenevere.)
Arthur
Guenevere!
Guenevere
Oh, my lord!
Arthur
What shall I say?...
With a sore heart I took this battle up
Which now is ended. Launcelot, I loved you,
Cherished and honoured you before all others.
But now is parting. My reproach is dulled,
Fall’n out of use and anger,
Like a spent arrow.
Launcelot
Oh, my King, believe me,
Never was it my purpose or my thought
To keep your Queen from you, but to defend
And shield her from your anger and her foes.
Arthur
Now, as between us both, let God, that brings
This end and mystery of returning light
After the thunder round us, and that sees
Our spirits without mask and unexcused,
Judge and have mercy. Tho’ peace be now ordained
Between us both, yet from our realm for ever
You are banished to your own lands whence you came,
To Brittany beyond the seas. Alas!
I never thought with such a word to close
Our book of friendship, wherein men shall read
How, many a time, Launcelot saved his King
And brought this kingdom glory. It is not I
That shall forget that friendship or those deeds.
And truly, for your fault, do I commend you
Where is that understanding of our hearts
Which is beyond men’s fathom. God be with you.
Launcelot
Now, must I speak
That narrow word which, like a little spring
Of water, swells to a dividing flood:
Farewell. O royal Guenevere, farewell.
Dear isle, sweet Britain, where I won renown—
All other lands are darkness to your light
Which I must leave behind me. Keep my name
As one that loved, as one that.... There’s no more!
Launcelot passes from this fellowship,
This the most noble fellowship of the world,
For ever, and the little noise we made
In the dull ear of Time so gloriously
The streams of silence take.
Lord Arthur, though all else be cancelled, yet
I keep my oath of fealty; leave me that:
And I shall never fail you, heart or hand,
While breath is in me. Call me in your need,
My sword, my life, are yours.
[Launcelotpasses out with his Knights. TheKing’sfollowers withdraw aside.
[Launcelotpasses out with his Knights. TheKing’sfollowers withdraw aside.
Arthur
Do you not weep to have lost him, Guenevere?
He did to me the wrong that least is pardoned,
Yet almost I forget my manhood now.
Guenevere
I am past tears. All I have done and been,
Been and endured, I see from far away,
As if another in my shape were there
Moving through storm and fire.—Have you no word,
No reproach for me?
Arthur
All my thoughts are stript.
As trees after the tempest, and life’s bare
As winter to the homeless.
Guenevere
This my heart
Did never forge sweet pardons for itself.
There is no absolution among men:
Give me leave, therefore, to renounce the world
And choose the cloister.
Arthur
Will you take those vows?
I doubt not you are guided where you go.
What’s broken God may there amend, not we.
Guenevere
There is a nunnery at Amesbury: once
I entered there, and found strange peace within.
I did not know such peace could be on earth.
Suffer me, my lord, to go to Amesbury.
Arthur
So be it.
Guenevere
Put remembrance under stone
Where the dead lie and feet pass over them.
She that so wronged you has no more a name.
Arthur
Bedivere, take you twenty of my knights
And ride to Amesbury. Guard you well the Queen;
Let no least harm befall her on the way,
No trouble: bear her company till you find
Those doors that she will enter. For she vows
Her days to the nun’s cloister and small cell,
And to that peace which the world gives not.
Bedivere
Sir,
We are honoured having so noble a charge laid on us.
We shall do all your bidding.
Arthur
Set you forth.
Farewell, until the last farewell of all!
(Gueneverepasses out, escorted byBedivereand Knights.Arthuris left alone standing in the solemn light of sunset. He breaks out into a cry.)
(Gueneverepasses out, escorted byBedivereand Knights.Arthuris left alone standing in the solemn light of sunset. He breaks out into a cry.)
Launcelot, Launcelot! Guenevere, Guenevere!