MERLIN
Who limed him with her smile and had of him,
In token of their sin, what he found soon
To be a sort of mongrel son and nephew
And a most precious reptile in addition
To ornament his court and carry arms,
And latterly to be the darker half
Of ruin. Also the king, who made of love
More than he made of life and death together,
Forgot the world and his example in it
For yet another woman one of many
And this one he made Queen, albeit he knew
That her unsworn allegiance to the knight
That he had loved the best of all his order
Must one day bring along the coming end
Of love and honor and of everything;
And with a kingdom builded on two pits
Of living sin, so founded by the will
Of one wise counsellor who loved the king,
And loved the world and therefore made him king
To be a mirror for it, the king reigned well
For certain years, awaiting a sure doom;
For certain years he waved across the world
A royal banner with a Dragon on it;
And men of every land fell worshipping
The Dragon as it were the living God,
And not the living sin."
She rose at that,
And after a calm yawn, she looked at Merlin :
"Why all this new insistence upon sin?"
She said ; "I wonder if I understand
This king of yours, with all his pits and dragons;
I know I do not like him." A thinner light
Was in her eyes than he had found in them
Since he became the willing prisoner
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