COLLECTED POEMS
"No matter if only Merlin keep the world
Away," she thought. "Our lyres have many strings,
But he must know them all, for he is Merlin."
And so for years, till ten of them were gone,
Ten years, ten seasons, or ten flying ages
Fate made Broceliande a paradise,
By none invaded, until Dagonet,
Like a discordant, awkward bird of doom,
Flew in with Arthur's message. For the King,
In sorrow cleaving to simplicity,
And having in his love a quick remembrance
Of Merlin's old affection for the fellow,
Had for this vain, reluctant enterprise
Appointed him the knight who made men laugh,
And was a fool because he played the fool.
"The King believes today, as in his boyhood,
That I am Fate; and I can do no more
Than show again what in his heart he knows,"
.Said Merlin to himself and Vivian :
"This time I go because I made him King,
Thereby to be a mirror for the world;
This time I go, but never after this,
For I can be no more than what I was,
And I can do no more than I have done."
He took her slowly in his arms and felt
Her body throbbing like a bird against him :
"This time I go ; I go because I must."
And in the morning, when hp rode away
With Dagonet and Blaise through the same gate
That once had clanged as^if to shut for ever,
She had not even asked m'm not to go;
For it was then that ir* his lonely gaze
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