Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/449

They have sought him high, they have sought him low,
They have sought him over down and lea.
They have found him by tfie milk-white thorn
That guards the gates o' Faerie.

'Twas bent beneath and blue above,
Their eyes were held that they might not see
The kine that grazed beneath the knowes,
Oh, they were the Queens o' Faerie!

"Now cease your song," the King he said,
"Oh, cease your song and get you dight
"To vow your vow and watch your arms,
"For I will dub you a belted knight.

"For I will give you a horse o' pride,
"Wi' blazon and spur and page and squire;
"Wi' keep and tail and seizin and law,
"And land to hold at your desire."

True Thomas smiled above his harp,
And turned his face to the naked sky,
Where, blown before the wastrel wind
The thistle-down she floated by.

"I ha' vowed my vow in another place,
"And bitter oath it was on me.
"I ha' watched my arms the lee-long night,
"Where five-score fighting men would flee.

"My lance is tipped o' the hammered flame,
"My shield is beat o' the moonlight cold;
"And I won my spurs in the Middle World,
"A thousand fathom beneath the mould.