Then murmur'd Arthur "Place me in the barge."
So to the barge they came. There those three Queens
Put forth their hands, and took the King, and wept.
But she, that rose the tallest of them all
And fairest, laid his head upon her lap....
....and call'd him by his name, complaining loud,
And dropping bitter tears....
Then loudly cried the bold Sir Bedivere:
"Ah! my Lord Arthur, whither shall I go?"
"Where shall I hide my forehead and my eyes?"
"For now I see the true old times are dead,
When every morning brought a noble chance,
And every chance brought out a noble knight...."
"But now the whole round table is dissolved
Which was an image of the mighty world,
And I, the last, go forth companionless"
"And the days darken round me, and the years,
Among new men, strange faces, other minds."
And slowly answer'd Arthur from the barge:
"The old order changeth, yielding place to new
And God fulfils himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world."
"Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me?
I have lived my life....
....but thou,
If thou shouldst never see my face again,
Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of...."
"But now farewell. I am going a long way
To the island-valley of Avalon
It lies deep-meadowed, fair with orchard lawns
And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea
Where I will heal me of my grievous wound"
So said he, and the barge with oar and sail
Moved from the brink, like some full breasted swan
That, fluting a wild carol ere her death
Ruffles her pure cold plume.
Long stood Sir Bedivere
Revolving many memories, till the hull
Look'd one black dot against the verge of dawn,
And on the mere, the wailing died away.
But when that moan had past for evermore,
The stillness of the dead world's winter dawn
Amazed him, and he groaned "The King is gone."
And therewithal came on him the weird rhyme,
"From the great deep to the great deep he goes."
