Classic Poem

14. Concerning Mano in Prison -

Felicity, best gift of God to man,
Perfectest creature, who in thy fair form
Holdest so many with harmonious plan,
And art a well-trimmed ship to ride the storm,
Bear thou the things which seem to do thee wrong,
When Virtue's ark woe's deluges deform.
Oh, bear a while with me in this sad song,
Which shows thee of less might than crooked Fate:
For out of weakness still thou waxest strong
Now is Diantha through the castle gate
Passed as Joanna, and to safety fled;
And Eustace left amazed in dolour great.
He to Sir Mano's prison quickly sped,
The ring to give, and what he knew to say,
Which little aided his forecasting head,
Not knowing who might be that stranger may,
Who took on her such dreadful penalty;
But now no further knowledge get he may:
For there the fool of Robert doth he see,
Who kept his post, nor from it budged a whit,
But welcomed him with hideous mockery,
Feigning indeed that he was come for it,
That he with him the captive might deride:
Whom Eustace neither to drive out thought fit,
Lest his loud cries should raise the hostile side,
Nor might before him any question make:
Therefore in ignorance he must abide.
The ring he gave: the which did Mano take,
Much marvelling to see it come again:
For, first, he deemed Joanna, for his sake,
Might not perform as she had underta'en,
So was departed, leaving him alone:
Nor knew he whom he saw, what man of men.
For Eustace stood like a dark-written stone,
Spake not, but looked with sorrow bursting out:
So that Joanna gone, Joanna gone,
Grew sorrowfully sure his heart about.
Also he thought again, the case might be
Diantha chose to die that aid without;
He thought his own gift sent back scornfully,
And much it grieved him that she should refuse
All that he could in their extremity
But he resolved never the same to use,
For since a tender may to bear the fire,
Contemning poison's succour, dared to choose,
Like courage should a manly breast inspire:
" Yea, I will suffer all the worst that man
Hath ever borne, since so doth Fate require:
" And it occasion grant " (occasion can, —
So in his mind he argues) " when at stake
We burn together " — — he to shortest span
Would bring her pains, and with that potion slake:
And her vowed safety to his power complete.
Thus thinking he in hand the ring doth take.
Then went Sir Eustace with unwilling feet,
And left him in the dungeon to his doom,
Whenas the morning on those bars gan beat,
Cloud bars that hold the curtains of thin gloom —
And the pale early light broke overhead
Across the window of his narrow room
And long time after Mano had been dead,
With iron scratched upon the stony wall
Where he had been captived, these words were read:
" I, who to Destiny was ever thrall,
End by her deed my course by her begun:
And honours and desire of life let fall
" my day, which scarcely smiled at dawn, now run
To his long West, I see the night full near,
Which shall devour the brightness of my sun
" Now must I think that Death has strewn my bier:
Now must I part from glory that I won:
And miss achievement that I held most dear.
" Glory with shame, as life with death, foredone,
Bids me make haste, and hasteneth my way:
I go the limit whither these are gone.
" Now youth his age doth meet before his day:
My faith so true doth faith to me deny:
Love flies me now, that never was at stay,
And adds his vote that it is time to die. " English