When down the stormy crescent goes,
    A light before me swims. 
  Between dark stems the forest glows,
    I hear a noise of hymns: 
  Then by some secret shrine I ride;
    I hear a voice, but none are there;
  The stalls are void, the doors are wide,
    The tapers burning fair. 
  Fair gleams the snowy altar-cloth,
    The silver vessels sparkle clean,
  The shrill bell rings, the censer swings,
    And solemn chaunts resound between.

  Sometimes on lonely mountain-meres
    I find a magic bark;
  I leap on board:  no helmsman steers: 
    I float till all is dark. 
  A gentle sound, an awful light! 
    Three angels bear the holy Grail: 
  With folded feet, in stoles of white,
    On sleeping wings they sail. 
  Ah, blessed vision! blood of God! 
    My spirit beats her mortal bars,
  As down dark tides the glory slides,
    And star-like mingles with the stars.

  When on my goodly charger borne
    Thro’ dreaming towns I go,
  The cock crows ere the Christmas morn,
    The streets are dumb with snow. 
  The tempest crackles on the leads,
    And, ringing, springs from brand and mail;
  But o’er the dark a glory spreads,
    And gilds the driving hail. 
  I leave the plain, I climb the height;
    No branchy thicket shelter yields;
  But blessed forms in whistling storms
    Fly o’er waste fens and windy fields.

  A maiden knight—­to me is given
    Such hope, I know not fear;
  I yearn to breathe the airs of heaven
    That often meet me here. 
  I muse on joy that will not cease,
    Pure spaces clothed in living beams,
  Pure lilies of eternal peace,
    Whose odors haunt my dreams;
  And, stricken by an angel’s hand,
    This mortal armor that I wear. 
  This weight and size, this heart and eyes,
    Are touched, and turned to finest air.

  The clouds are broken in the sky,
    And thro’ the mountain-walls
  A rolling organ-harmony
    Swells up, and shakes and falls. 
  Then move the trees, the copses nod,
    Wings flutter, voices hover clear: 
  “O just and faithful knight of God! 
    Ride on! the prize is near.” 
  So pass I hostel, hall, and grange;
    By bridge and ford, by park and pale,
  All-armed I ride, whate’er betide,
    Until I find the holy Grail.

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON.

* * * * *

FLOWERS WITHOUT FRUIT.

  Prune thou thy words; the thoughts control
    That o’er thee swell and throng;—­
  They will condense within thy soul,
    And change to purpose strong.

  But he who lets his feelings run
    In soft luxurious flow,
  Shrinks when hard service must be done,
    And faints at every woe.

  Faith’s meanest deed more favor bears,
    Where hearts and wills are weighed,
  Than brightest transports, choicest prayers,
    Which bloom their hour, and fade.