English Narrative Poems Part 18

The times had changed when on either coast "Clerkly Harry" was all his boast.[268]

Of ruthless[269] strokes full many an one 15 He had struck to crown himself and his son; And his elder brother's eyes were gone.[270]

And when to the chase his court would crowd, The poor flung ploughshares on his road, And shrieked: "Our cry is from King to G.o.d!" 20

But all the chiefs of the English land Had knelt and kissed the Prince's hand.

And next with his son he sailed to France To claim the Norman allegiance:

And every baron in Normandy 25 Had taken the oath of fealty.[271]

'Twas sworn and sealed, and the day had come When the King and the Prince might journey home:

For Christmas cheer is to home hearts dear, And Christmas now was drawing near. 30

Stout Fitz-Stephen came to the King,-- A pilot famous in seafaring;

And he held to the King in all men's sight, A mark of gold for his tribute's right.

"Liege[272] Lord! my father guided the ship 35 From whose boat your father's[273] foot did slip When he caught the English soil in his grip,

"And cried: 'By this clasp I claim command O'er every rood[274] of English land!'

"He was borne to the realm you rule o'er now 40 In that ship with the archer carved at her prow:

"And thither I'll bear an' it be my due, Your father's son and his grandson too.

"The famed White Ship is mine in the bay; From Harfleur's harbor[275] she sails to-day, 45

"With masts fair-pennoned as Norman spears And with fifty well-tried mariners."

Quoth the King: "My ships are chosen each one, But I'll not say nay to Stephen's son.

"My son and daughter and fellowship 50 Shall cross the water in the White Ship."

The King set sail with the eve's south wind, And soon he left that coast behind.

The Prince and all his, a princely show, Remained in the good White Ship to go. 55

With n.o.ble knights and with ladies fair, With courtiers and sailors gathered there, Three hundred living souls we were:

And I Berold was the meanest hind[276]

In all that train to the Prince a.s.sign'd. 60

The Prince was a lawless shameless youth; From his father's loins he sprang without ruth:

Eighteen years till then had he seen, And the devil's dues in him were eighteen.

And now he cried: "Bring wine from below; 65 Let the sailors revel ere yet they row:

"Our speed shall o'ertake my father's flight Though we sail from the harbor at midnight."

The rowers made good cheer without check; The lords and ladies obeyed his beck; 70 The night was light and they danced on the deck.

But at midnight's stroke they cleared the bay, And the White Ship furrowed the water-way.

The sails were set, and the oars kept tune To the double flight of the ship and the moon: 75

Swifter and swifter the White Ship sped Till she flew as the spirit flies from the dead:

As white as a lily glimmered she Like a ship's fair ghost upon the sea.

And the Prince cried, "Friends, 'tis the hour to sing! 80 Is a songbird's course so swift on the wing?"

And under the winter stars' still throng, From brown throats, white throats, merry and strong, The knights and the ladies raised a song.

A song,--nay, a shriek that rent the sky, 85 That leaped o'er the deep!--the grievous cry Of three hundred living that now must die.

An instant shriek that sprang to the shock As the ship's keel felt the sunken rock.

'Tis said that afar--a shrill strange sigh-- 90 The King's ships heard it and knew not why.

Pale Fitz-Stephen stood by the helm 'Mid all those folk that the waves must whelm.

A great King's heir for the waves to whelm And the helpless pilot pale at the helm! 95

The ship was eager and sucked athirst, By the stealthy stab of the sharp reef pierced,

And like the moil[277] round a sinking cup, The waters against her crowded up.

A moment the pilot's senses spin,-- 100 The next he s.n.a.t.c.hed the Prince 'mid the din, Cut the boat loose, and the youth leaped in.

A few friends leaped with him, standing near.

"Row! the sea's smooth and the night is clear!"

"What! none to be saved but these and I?" 105 "Row, row as you'd live! All here must die!"

Out of the churn of the choking ship, Which the gulf grapples and the waves strip, They struck with the strained oars' flash and dip.

'Twas then o'er the splitting bulwarks' brim 110 The Prince's sister screamed to him.

He gazed aloft still rowing apace, And through the whirled surf he knew her face.

To the toppling decks clave one and all As a fly cleaves to a chamber-wall. 115

I Berold was clinging anear; I prayed for myself and quaked with fear, But I saw his eyes as he looked at her.

He knew her face and he heard her cry, And he said, "Put back! she must not die!" 120