MERLIN
 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
POEMS
CAPTAIN CRAIG
THE CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT
THE TOWN DOWN THE RIVER
THE MAN AGAINST THE SKY
 
PLAYS
VAN ZORN. A Comedy in Three Acts
THE PORCUPINE. A Drama in Three Acts
 
 
MERLIN
A Poem
 
BY
EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON
 
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1917
All rights reserved
 
 
Copyright, 1917,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1917.
 
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
 
 
To
GEORGE BURNHAM
 
 
[Pg 1]
MERLIN
 
I
“Gawaine, Gawaine, what look ye for to see,
So far beyond the faint edge of the world?
D’ye look to see the lady Vivian,
Pursued by divers ominous vile demons
That have another king more fierce than ours?
Or think ye that if ye look far enough
And hard enough into the feathery west
Ye’ll have a glimmer of the Grail itself?
And if ye look for neither Grail nor lady,
[Pg 2]What look ye for to see, Gawaine, Gawaine?”
So Dagonet, whom Arthur made a knight
Because he loved him as he laughed at him,
Intoned his idle presence on a day
To Gawaine, who had thought himself alone,
Had there been in him thought of anything
Save what was murmured now in Camelot
Of Merlin’s hushed and all but unconfirmed
Appearance out of Brittany. It was heard
At first there was a ghost in Arthur’s palace,
But soon among the scullions and anon
Among the knights a firmer credit held
All tongues from uttering what all glances told—
Though not for long. Gawaine, this afternoon,
Fearing he might say more to Lancelot
Of Merlin’s rumor-laden resurrection
Than Lancelot would have an ear to cherish,
[Pg 3]Had sauntered off with his imagination
To Merlin’s Rock, where now there was no Merlin
To meditate upon a whispering town
Below him in the silence.—Once he said
To Gawaine: “You are young; and that being so,
Behold the shining city of our dreams
And of our King.”—“Long live the King,” said Gawaine.—
“Long live the King,” said Merlin after him;
“Better for me that I shall not be King;
Wherefore I say again, Long live the King,
And add, God save him, also, and all kings—
All kings and queens. I speak in general.
Kings have I known that were but weary men
With no stout appetite for more than peace
That was not made for them.”—“Nor were they made
[Pg 4]For kings,” Gawaine said, laughing.—“You are young
Gawaine, and you may one day hold the world
Between your fingers, knowing not what it is
That you are holding. Better for you and me,
I think, that we shall not be kings.”

Gawaine,
Remembering Merlin’s wo                        
...
                        
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