Then men would come from the ends of the earth
Whom the King sat welcoming,
And men would go to the ends of the earth
Because of the word of the King.
Whom the King sat welcoming,
And men would go to the ends of the earth
Because of the word of the King.
For folk came in to Alfred's face
Whose javelins had been hurled
On monsters that make boil the sea,
Crakens and coils of mystery,
Or thrust in ancient snows that be
The white hair of the world.
Whose javelins had been hurled
On monsters that make boil the sea,
Crakens and coils of mystery,
Or thrust in ancient snows that be
The white hair of the world.
And some had knocked at the northern gates
Of the ultimate icy floor,
Where the fish freeze and the foam turns black
And the wide world narrows to a track,
And the other sea at the world's back
Cries through a closed door.
Of the ultimate icy floor,
Where the fish freeze and the foam turns black
And the wide world narrows to a track,
And the other sea at the world's back
Cries through a closed door.
And men went forth from Alfred's face,
Even great gift-bearing lords,
Not to Rome only, but more bold,
Out to the high hot courts of old,
Of negroes clad in cloth of gold,
Silence, and crooked swords.
Even great gift-bearing lords,
Not to Rome only, but more bold,
Out to the high hot courts of old,
Of negroes clad in cloth of gold,
Silence, and crooked swords.
Scrawled screens and secret gardens
And insect-laden skies —
And insect-laden skies —
119
