18
THE TALE OF BALEN
'What chance God sends, that chance I take,'
He said. Then soft and still she spake;
'I would but for thine only sake
Have back the sword of thee, and break
The links of doom that bind thee round.
But seeing thou wilt not have it so,
My heart for thine is wrung with woe.'
'God's will,' quoth he, 'it is, we know,
Wherewith our lives are bound.'
'Repent it must thou soon,' she said,
'Who wouldst not hear the rede I read
For thine and not for my sake, sped
In vain as waters heavenward shed
From springs that falter and depart
Earthward. God bids not thee believe
Truth, and the web thy life must weave
For even this sword to close and cleave
Hangs heavy round my heart.'
