Part 5
Saved her! Could I leave her then A prey to those fanged foxes? To the wrath They were so cunning with their stratagems To fire in you? I had vowed to be your Queen’s Unalterable knight and steadfast sword. Could I forswear her in her hour of danger?
(ARTHUR, _moved, is silent_.)
Speak!
ARTHUR
Yield her up.
LAUNCELOT
And she shall be unharmed?
ARTHUR
Justice must stand, and she abide by that.
LAUNCELOT
On the accusation of a miscreant Proved false as hell? Arraigned in such a cause? Never!
ARTHUR
Your own guilt, Launcelot, stands clear.
GAWAINE
Enough of words. To arms!
LAUNCELOT
Ere that my words Be scattered in this tempest, hear me out. Think of her dead. Think of that royal beauty in its grave! Did Guenevere, your Queen, lie here before you With the eyes that see not, with the ears that hear not, Ignorant of a pardon come too late, Past beyond all repentance, cold to all Tears of your supplication, locked away In silence answerless, would that content you? Oh, take her sorrow to your grace, my King, Take that most noble lady to your grace, And be it peace between us.
ARTHUR
Peace? Alas! The dear cords that have bound us are all frayed And ragged on the sore.
GAWAINE
Insolent thief! The King shall have his Queen, despite of you.
LAUNCELOT
Put me to proof, Gawaine, put me to proof! Hazard your force upon me, and I swear It shall be easier for your single hand To storm a barricaded city, than By force or threat to take the Queen from me, Except I have the King’s oath.
GAWAINE (_drawing his sword_)
Now and here! Now and here! Put it to the proof.
ARTHUR
Gawaine, Put up your sword!
(_Lightning._)
GAWAINE
The heavens strike at him.
ARTHUR
Launcelot!
LAUNCELOT
Arthur!
GAWAINE
I have stemmed my wrath Too long! I have my quarrel in this cause And no fond word shall end it. Murderer! My blood is on you, you are spotted with it, The blood of my young brothers whom you slew.
(_Thunder._)
Cover your eyes! You cannot shield your soul From my full vengeance.
LAUNCELOT
All my soul is grief For what I did that day, and did not know it. Sooner than Gareth I’d have slain myself. I loved him.
GAWAINE
And you butchered both defenceless! Red in their blood I see you, hair to heel.
LAUNCELOT
If the King will, I shall do penance for it. I will build chantries over all the land From Cabelot to Dover, and will go A barefoot pilgrim, praying for the souls Of Gareth and of Gaheris whom I loved.
GAWAINE
You lie; you did it of your evil will And devilish delight.
LAVAINE
You shall not say it. Sir Gawaine, I loved Gareth and I know Sir Launcelot killed him in pure ignorance.
ARTHUR
Cease, Gawaine, cease!
(_Lightning._)
GAWAINE
I will not cease, until That innocent dear blood be wiped away.
BORS
Shall we endure this more?
LAVAINE
Speak, Launcelot!
(_Thunder._)
GAWAINE
Liar and traitor!
(_He throws his glove in_ LAUNCELOT’S _face. Trumpets from_ LAUNCELOT’S _side_.)
BORS
Out swords!
LAVAINE
We are ashamed.
GAWAINE
Blow, trumpets, blow my vengeance.
(_Thunder._)
ARTHUR
It is fated! War and no peace; in earth and heaven, war.
(_The storm breaks with blinding violence as the battle begins._ LAUNCELOT’S _knights defend him from_ GAWAINE’S _fury, giving ground R. Confused fighting in darkness. Cries of “Launcelot!” “Joyous Gard!” “Arthur!” and “Gawaine!” A flash of lightning discovers_ GAWAINE _hewing his way through the fighters_.)
GAWAINE
Gash this accursed darkness, flame of heaven, And find me him.
(_He is borne backwards L. by superior force._)
I’ll find him, spite of you. Spite of all.
(_More thunder. Confusion and fighting as before._)
A VOICE
Help!
ANOTHER
Christ and Arthur!
ANOTHER
Better call the fiend That rides this tempest!
(_Thunder again._)
ANOTHER VOICE
Never was such war Since the angels fell.
ANOTHER
We are stricken out of heaven.
MANY VOICES
Gawaine! Gawaine!
OTHERS
Launcelot! Launcelot!
A VOICE
Death to you!
ANOTHER
Brother! I have killed my brother, Woe!
A VOICE
The King! Where is the King?
VOICES
The King is slain!
ANOTHER
We are lost!
ANOTHER
A curse, the curse of God!
BORS (_in the distance_)
Fight on! Fight on!
VOICES
Joyous Gard! Joyous Gard!
BORS
Press!
VOICES
Where is Gawaine?
BORS
Now pursue, pursue; They have no captain.
VOICES (_retreating_)
Lost, we are all lost!
(_The storm mitigates a little, and in the dim light_ BORS _and_ ARTHUR _are seen confronting each other alone, the fight having swept off to the L._)
BORS (_calling_)
Launcelot! (_To_ ARTHUR) Yield you. There is none to aid.
ARTHUR
But that my heart is weary unto death And my soul sadder than despair----
BORS
The King!
_Enter_ LAUNCELOT.
Launcelot, Launcelot! Shall I make an end? It is the King.
(_He lifts his sword._ ARTHUR _stands motionless, leaning on his sword_.)
LAUNCELOT
On your life’s peril, hold, O friend, against that sacred head!
BORS
Yet here Should end all quarrels.
LAUNCELOT
Down that impious sword, Or never breathe again. My King! Is there a hurt?
ARTHUR
Not in my flesh. It is of stone, and feels not any more.
(_A long-drawn note is sounded by a distant trumpet._)
LAUNCELOT
What strange note blows upon that trumpet?
BORS (_looking down the slope_)
See, The fighting ceases, and the fighters all Stand motionless.
LAUNCELOT
Go, Bors, and bring me word.
[_Exit_ BORS.
ARTHUR
Oh, Launcelot, would this war had never been!
(_Thunder retreating._)
Hark! how the heavens groan over us. Out of me, Had I capacity for utterance, would Like storm of woe from this dark bosom burst, Filling the world.
LAUNCELOT
Oh, Arthur! Oh, my King, Had we but met before, thus, face to face! Arthur, you trusted me; and though I guard Your Queen from death, I have not failed you since. But now, since we are met as naked souls Beneath dark heaven, I will confess me. I Have done you wrong that nothing can undo, Not though this thunder cracked the frame of things And spilled the molten world. Since first my eyes Saw Guenevere, I loved her.
ARTHUR
Launcelot!
LAUNCELOT
Oh! With wrestlings and with torture, yet with such Extreme necessity of love as bound me, Blinded! Against that storm I was not strong; I was a madman, rushing on a spear In rapture. Take your Queen back to your heart, Forgiven, but as for me--lift up your sword And claim this forfeit soul.
(_A distant chanting is heard._)
ARTHUR (_raising his sword_)
I have good cause. I loved, and you have shamed me; more, undone My life, my hope, my kingdom! (_Letting his point fall._) No, I cannot. Were we but met in the hot battle’s blood I’d kill you for that cause. Now I am numbed; And something from within me stays my hand. Take my Queen pardoned to my heart, you plead. Ah, Launcelot! were it merely man and woman, Love should be wide and infinite as air To meet her at the world’s end with my arms, Even at the farthest erring. There’s no help. A man may pardon, but the King may not. The King is justice, or no more a King.
LAUNCELOT
Forgiveness is yet kinglier. Harden not Your heart for ever.
ARTHUR
Were there but a sign From this charged heaven----
LAUNCELOT
Look!
(_A gleam has appeared in the paling sky and the chant grows nearer._)
ARTHUR
Is there light On earth again?
LAUNCELOT
What strange stillness has seized upon the host? What chant is that?
VOICES
The King! The King! A wonder! Rome! Rome!
(_Certain knights of either party return on the scene, and in their midst a white banner preceding a_ BISHOP, _with a train of priests chanting. With a last remote peal of thunder the storm passes away_.)
BISHOP
Peace! Peace to you all! In the name of our Lord Jesu, peace! Our Holy Father on the seat of St. Peter hath sent me hither with his commands. Hasting I come even among your swords and spears; And this is the command that I am charged with. Launcelot shall render his Queen again to King Arthur; she shall not be harmed: And King Arthur shall be accorded with Sir Launcelot. This, upon pain of interdiction of the whole realm of Britain, is the high commandment of God’s regent upon earth, our Holy Father in Rome. My sons, will you obey?
(ARTHUR _and_ LAUNCELOT _bow their heads_.)
ARTHUR
So far as it be peace betwixt us, I obey.
LAUNCELOT
I go to bring the Queen.
(_He goes away R. as_ GAWAINE _is brought in wounded, leaning on two of his knights_.)
GAWAINE
Ah, there! Let me but reach him; hurt though I be, I will satisfy my vengeance.
BISHOP
Man of blood, your hour is past. Exorcise from you this vain rage and lust of vengeance. Bethink you of your sins, and of God’s peace. The King receives his Queen again and is accorded with Sir Launcelot.
GAWAINE
Not all the priests in Christendom shall force My will to this. I’ll say naught of the Queen; But him will I proclaim still to the world Traitor.
ARTHUR
Ah, Gawaine, have we not enough Of hatred?
GAWAINE
Though I seek him through seven realms I’ll have my retribution, death for death.
(_He faints._)
ARTHUR
He has swooned. Bear him to his tent.
(GAWAINE _is borne off by his friends_.)
BISHOP
Pass now. My errand is performed. Peace be upon you.
[_The priests resume their chant, and the_ BISHOP _and his train pass off_.
ARTHUR
Look, where she comes.
LAUNCELOT _returns, leading_ GUENEVERE _by the hand_.
LAUNCELOT
My King, I bring to you your Queen again.
(_They kneel down before_ ARTHUR, _then_ LAUNCELOT _raises_ GUENEVERE.)
ARTHUR
Guenevere!
GUENEVERE
Oh, my lord!
ARTHUR
What shall I say?... With a sore heart I took this battle up Which now is ended. Launcelot, I loved you, Cherished and honoured you before all others. But now is parting. My reproach is dulled, Fall’n out of use and anger, Like a spent arrow.
LAUNCELOT
Oh, my King, believe me, Never was it my purpose or my thought To keep your Queen from you, but to defend And shield her from your anger and her foes.
ARTHUR
Now, as between us both, let God, that brings This end and mystery of returning light After the thunder round us, and that sees Our spirits without mask and unexcused, Judge and have mercy. Tho’ peace be now ordained Between us both, yet from our realm for ever You are banished to your own lands whence you came, To Brittany beyond the seas. Alas! I never thought with such a word to close Our book of friendship, wherein men shall read How, many a time, Launcelot saved his King And brought this kingdom glory. It is not I That shall forget that friendship or those deeds. And truly, for your fault, do I commend you Where is that understanding of our hearts Which is beyond men’s fathom. God be with you.
LAUNCELOT
Now, must I speak That narrow word which, like a little spring Of water, swells to a dividing flood: _Farewell_. O royal Guenevere, farewell. Dear isle, sweet Britain, where I won renown-- All other lands are darkness to your light Which I must leave behind me. Keep my name As one that loved, as one that.... There’s no more! Launcelot passes from this fellowship, This the most noble fellowship of the world, For ever, and the little noise we made In the dull ear of Time so gloriously The streams of silence take. Lord Arthur, though all else be cancelled, yet I keep my oath of fealty; leave me that: And I shall never fail you, heart or hand, While breath is in me. Call me in your need, My sword, my life, are yours.
[LAUNCELOT _passes out with his Knights. The_ KING’S _followers withdraw aside_.
ARTHUR
Do you not weep to have lost him, Guenevere? He did to me the wrong that least is pardoned, Yet almost I forget my manhood now.
GUENEVERE
I am past tears. All I have done and been, Been and endured, I see from far away, As if another in my shape were there Moving through storm and fire.--Have you no word, No reproach for me?
ARTHUR
All my thoughts are stript. As trees after the tempest, and life’s bare As winter to the homeless.
GUENEVERE
This my heart Did never forge sweet pardons for itself. There is no absolution among men: Give me leave, therefore, to renounce the world And choose the cloister.
ARTHUR
Will you take those vows? I doubt not you are guided where you go. What’s broken God may there amend, not we.
GUENEVERE
There is a nunnery at Amesbury: once I entered there, and found strange peace within. I did not know such peace could be on earth. Suffer me, my lord, to go to Amesbury.
ARTHUR
So be it.
GUENEVERE
Put remembrance under stone Where the dead lie and feet pass over them. She that so wronged you has no more a name.
ARTHUR
Bedivere, take you twenty of my knights And ride to Amesbury. Guard you well the Queen; Let no least harm befall her on the way, No trouble: bear her company till you find Those doors that she will enter. For she vows Her days to the nun’s cloister and small cell, And to that peace which the world gives not.
BEDIVERE
Sir, We are honoured having so noble a charge laid on us. We shall do all your bidding.
ARTHUR
Set you forth. Farewell, until the last farewell of all!
(GUENEVERE _passes out, escorted by_ BEDIVERE _and Knights_. ARTHUR _is left alone standing in the solemn light of sunset. He breaks out into a cry._)
Launcelot, Launcelot! Guenevere, Guenevere!
EIGHTH SCENE
_The Nunnery at Amesbury._ GUENEVERE _is discovered lying prostrate on the stone steps_. _A nun_, LYNNED, _enters and lifts her up as she speaks to her_.
LYNNED
Queen, the day calls us; cling not to the night, The stone, the silence. There is flesh and blood Of your own people, threatened and afraid, That calls on you. Though you have cast the robe Of royalty for this (_touching her nun’s garment_), the queenly heart Has room for other sorrow than its own-- So cold, my sister? Feel within my arms, Feel in my bosom the warm running blood That neighbours yours.
GUENEVERE
I am wearied, wearied out. I would forget, and cannot. My heart’s numbed With aching like my body. I thought that in these walls there should be peace. Tell me, for you have eyes that understand And seem to suffer, tell me the truth, Sister. I know that it is sinful to remember, And yet, is it not treason to forget?
LYNNED
Grief can grow dear--do I not know it?--grief Can grow too dear. The heart that loses all Must still give all.
GUENEVERE
Take not my grief from me, Or there is nothing left to me on earth.
LYNNED
Nay, grief shall change and grow beyond itself. There’s one now at the gate must speak with you.
GUENEVERE
Send him away.
LYNNED
I cannot.
GUENEVERE
Who is he That seeks me? There was one who used to come To me, always, before he rode to battle. His name was Launcelot. That was long ago. I was a Queen then. I have died since then. It is not Launcelot! Leave me then in peace.
LYNNED
Alas, even here within this cloister wall Is no peace any longer, but all round Imminent tempest, ripe to burst on us, Sir Mordred with his host in rebel arms, Thrice swollen in number, threatens ever nearer. Out of the West he thrusts. This very day May see the issue. Never did the swarm Of Saxon heathen press the King so hard.
GUENEVERE
Who else could seek me now? Is it the King?
LYNNED
It is the King.
GUENEVERE
I cannot see him.
LYNNED
Think! He is in deadly danger: it may be This is the last time you may look on him.
GUENEVERE
I cannot.
LYNNED
Sister, I, too, once denied One who had loved me, when he sought me out For my forgiveness. Gawaine was his name. They had told an evil tale of me, and he Believed it in his sudden wrath, and then Repented, and he came to see me, and I Denied him. Now he is dead, that stormy heart----
GUENEVERE
Sir Gawaine, dead?
LYNNED
Dead of that wound he got By Joyous Gard. The news came even now. I shall not see him now, never again; I, that had all his pardon brimming here. And have no pardon for myself.
GUENEVERE
You, too?
LYNNED
We are all kneaded of one flesh; wild earth, Yet heavenly seed can spring in it, and peace That comes in the end, but comes not without cost. It is ill shrinking from our sorrow, Queen. Will you not see the King?
GUENEVERE
How looked he? Tell me.
LYNNED
I saw him in the ghostly morning mist Clad in his armour, sitting on his horse. He rides to battle. Almost like a spirit He seemed, and greater than himself. When he spoke, His voice was gentle, yet withal commanded. And there was such a shining in his eyes As never yet I saw in any man’s Upon this earth.
GUENEVERE
Go, tell him----
(ARTHUR _appears at the back, as a shadow among the shadows, emerging into the light till he stands near_ GUENEVERE.)
LYNNED
He is here.
(LYNNED _glides away as the King appears. He has an exalted, strange, and almost transfigured air._)
ARTHUR
Guenevere!
GUENEVERE
Why do you bring me back that ache And the sharp memory of all I thirst To have forgotten? Do you come now to forgive me? Standing apart, to pardon? Only the truth is worthy of what we are. I have wept tears that scald the soul, and yet I do my heart of hearts wrong, if I say That I repent of all.
ARTHUR
If I were he You knew in other time, if I were he Who had no eyes but for his distant goal, And saw not the things nearest to his heart-- But he is passed.
GUENEVERE
You speak with a new voice. But I am as the dead who cannot change: Burnt out. I feel not, only see, from far, The unending desolation I have made.
ARTHUR
I too, I too see, Guenevere. I see Your spirit, and my spirit, and that one Who stands between us; and I see the realm, I dreamed to make one flawless crystal, cracked To fragments; and the loss, the waste. But now I am come, through anguish and against my will, Into a light that shows me what I am, And where I go, and what endures beyond. Were it not for the pain, I had not known. In ignorance we tear each other’s hearts. Know you, Gawaine is gone, dead of his wound?
GUENEVERE
I know it.
ARTHUR
Know you, the great heart in him Turned once again to Launcelot at the last? The old love flooded over that dark hate: He knew that Launcelot loved him to the end From the beginning. Guenevere, my light Came then: I knew that Launcelot loved me Not less, but more, because he did me wrong; And I began to understand that love, Which knows not good or evil, but gives all, Because it turns as flowers do to the sun And goes like stream to sea.
GUENEVERE
I did the wrong. Through me the young have perished, the young men Have fallen in their blood. From me a woe goes welling through the world Like waves in the black night.
ARTHUR
From me, from me! In the beginning was my fault. I feel The end upon me, like the air of dawn, And see in light that is not of the earth What we have done to each other, and left undone. I in my far dream of that perfect realm, Clouded in cares of policy and state, Saw not what burning soul was at my side, Wanting the love that sees through human eyes And by love understands. I was blind. Now I am borne beyond Time’s wisdom and that fear Which moulds men’s justice. What am I, to speak Pardon or condemnation? I am come To humbleness that cries, “Father, forgive! We know not what we did.” It is I that say, “My Queen, forgive me.” Speak not any word. Your eyes have spoken. Guenevere, I go To battle. Give me your farewell.
GUENEVERE
To battle! Never an end of battle!
ARTHUR
Mordred stands, Ready to strike; and men, that I have made From nothing, now are Mordred’s. That name sucks All secret poison to itself. Yonder He waits me. I shall overthrow him--this Is a fight to put my soul in--yet a voice Within my heart assures me that I go To the last of all my battles.
GUENEVERE
To the last?
ARTHUR
I feel the wizard sword Excalibur Like an impatient spirit within my hand, As if he heard voices recalling me Out of this ended world. But I am freed; I am forgiven; the dark load is off. Say me farewell, Guenevere.
GUENEVERE
Now you go Into your mortal peril, and go alone, Maimed of your strong right hand, Of Launcelot, that loved you. Woe on me! The very meanest of your serving men That bears a weapon has the better right Than she who was your Queen to follow you Even with her prayers.
ARTHUR
Give me your prayers, I ask them. Christ, that loved men and women, comfort you.
GUENEVERE
God keep my lord. I have no words any more.
ARTHUR
The day goes to the night, And I to darkness, with my toil undone. Yet something, surely, something shall remain. A seed is sown in Britain, Guenevere; And whether men wait for a hundred years Or for a thousand, they shall find it flower In youth unborn. The young have gone before me, The maid Elaine, Gareth, and Gaheris--hearts Without a price, poured out. But now I know The tender and passionate spirit that burned in them To dare all and endure all, lives and moves, And though the dark comes down upon our waste, Lives ever, like the sun above all storms; This old world shall behold it shine again To prove what splendour men have power to shape From mere mortality. Farewell! That peace Which can remember, and yet hope, because Love makes us greater than we know, come to you, Guenevere!
[_He disappears into the shadows, and the scene closes in._
NINTH SCENE
_Same as Eighth Scene. Early light._ GUENEVERE _is discovered with a young_ NOVICE.
GUENEVERE
What hour is it?
FIRST NOVICE
Madam, struck six.
GUENEVERE
Still rumour, And never the one certain thing. Two hours Since any word came how the battle goes. Yet all night long Have our replenished torches flamed to guide The bearers of the wounded to our gates.
FIRST NOVICE
Cloister and ante-chapel both are filled; And still they bring them in, dying and dead. Never was seen such slaughter in the world.
GUENEVERE
Still no news of the King!
(_A pause._)
_Enter_ SECOND NOVICE.
SECOND NOVICE
News, Madam!
GUENEVERE
Speak.
SECOND NOVICE
There came a rider spurring from the West; His head was badged with blood. He implored speech Passionately, as heavy with his news, Of the Sister Lynned. She has quit the task That keeps her with those wounded ones, and gone To the gate to meet him. He is named, they say, Sir Bedivere.
GUENEVERE
The King’s friend. He will bring News of the King.
FIRST NOVICE
Madam, the Sister comes.
_Enter_ LYNNED.
LYNNED
Our Reverend Mother Abbess needs more hands To bind those many wounds up. Go to her.
[_The_ NOVICES _go out, leaving_ GUENEVERE _and_ LYNNED _facing each other._
GUENEVERE
There’s tidings on your face. The King is dead!
LYNNED