But Kundry muttered still:  “I do no good!”
Then in still lower tone to her own self: 
“I do no good, I only long for rest. 
O weary me!  Would I might never wake! 
Yet dare I sleep?  It means calamity
To those whom I in vain have tried to serve. 
Resist I cannot!  Yea, the time has come! 
I feel the awful spell upon mine eyes,—­
Slumber I must!  Slave of that evil one
Who wields his black art from the mountain height. 
Sleep, sleep, to sleep!  I must!  I must!  I must!”
With this she crept away and laid her down
Within a thicket of the forest woods.

Meanwhile the litter of the King came back
With all its retinue of gallant knights. 
And Gurnemanz held up the tottering lad,
Still sorrowing at the sad news come to him,
And slowly led him toward the castle gate,
While softly speaking to him graciously: 
“See how our King Amfortas from the bath
Is carried by his loving servitors. 
The sun is rising high.  The time has come
When we shall celebrate our holy Feast. 
There will I lead thee.  If thy heart be pure,
The Grail will be to thee as food and drink.” 
Then asked the lad:  “What is this thing, the Grail?”

And Gurnemanz:  “I may not tell thee that,
But if to serve it thou art surely called,
Then shalt thou know its meaning to the full. 
Somehow I feel and hope that thou shalt know,
Else what has led thy footsteps to this height. 
Yet no one sees the glory of the Grail
Save those to whom it shall reveal itself.”

Then on they moved, and softly spake the lad: 
“I scarcely move, and yet I seem to run,—­
What is the meaning of this strange new thing?”

And Gurnemanz made answer:  “Here, my child,
There is no space and time, but all is one,—­
For here we breathe the atmosphere of God,—­
A boundless Here and an eternal Now.”

Then on they went, and soon were lost to view
Within the gateway of a rocky cliff;
Sometimes came glimpses of them as they climbed
The sloping passages within the cliff—­
A cloistered corridor of carven columns—­
And paused a moment at some rocky window
To see the grandeur of the mountain heights. 
The soft notes of a trumpet called them up,
And silver bells were chiming melodies.

At length they reached the noble pillared hall
Within the castle of the Holy Grail,
For here the sacred feast was always kept,—­
And here were gathering the blessed knights. 
Clothed were they all in tunics of gray-blue,—­
The color of the softened light of heaven,—­
With mantles of pale scarlet, flowing free,—­
The very tincture of the blood they served,—­
And on the mantles snow-white soaring doves,
The symbol of the Holy Spirit’s gift. 
And with a solemn joy they took their place
Along the tables of communing love;
The while from the great vaulted dome above
Came ever-growing sound of chiming bells.