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    The Ride to the Lady, and Other Poems
    The Ride to the Lady, and Other Poems
    The Ride to the Lady, and Other Poems
    Ebook78 pages34 minutes

    The Ride to the Lady, and Other Poems

    By Helen Gray Cone

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    About this ebook

    The Ride to The Lady by Helen Gray Cone is about a knight's fearsome quest to his enchanting amour across "the streams of hell." Cone writes captivating poems of love and victory. Excerpt: "Now since mine even is come at last,— For I have been the sport of steel, And hot life ebbeth from me fast, And I in saddle roll and reel,— Come bind me, bind me on my steed! Of fingering leech, I have no need!"
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGood Press
    Release dateDec 23, 2019
    ISBN4064066122201
    The Ride to the Lady, and Other Poems

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      Book preview

      The Ride to the Lady, and Other Poems - Helen Gray Cone

      Helen Gray Cone

      The Ride to the Lady, and Other Poems

      Published by Good Press, 2022

      goodpress@okpublishing.info

      EAN 4064066122201

      Table of Contents

      THE FIRST GUEST

      SILENCE

      ARRAIGNMENT

      THE GOING OUT OF THE TIDE

      KING RAEDWALD

      IVO OF CHARTRES

      MADONNA PIA

      TWO MOODS OF FAILURE

      THE STORY OF THE ORIENT

      A RESURRECTION

      THE GLORIOUS COMPANY

      THE TRUMPETER

      COMRADES

      THE HOUSE OF HATE

      THE ARROWMAKER

      A NEST IN A LYRE

      THISBE

      THE SPRING BEAUTIES

      KINSHIP

      COMPENSATION

      WHEN WILLOWS GREEN

      AT THE PARTING OF THE WAYS

      THE FAIR GRAY LADY

      THE ENCOUNTER

      SUMMER HOURS

      LOVE UNSUNG

      THE WISH FOR A CHAPLET

      SONNETS

      THE TORCH-RACE

      TO SLEEP

      SISTER SNOW

      RETROSPECT

      THE CONTRAST

      A MYSTERY

      TRIUMPH

      IN WINTER, WITH THE BOOK WE READ IN SPRING

      SERE WISDOM

      ISOLATION

      THE LOST DRYAD

      A MEMORY

      THE GIFTS OF THE OAK

      THE STRAYED SINGER

      THE IMMORTAL WORD

      "Now since mine even is come at last,—

      For I have been the sport of steel,

      And hot life ebbeth from me fast,

      And I in saddle roll and reel,—

      Come bind me, bind me on my steed!

      Of fingering leech I have no need!"

      The chaplain clasped his mailed knee.

      "Nor need I more thy whine and thee!

      No time is left my sins to tell;

      But look ye bind me, bind me well!"

      They bound him strong with leathern thong,

      For the ride to the lady should be long.

      Day was dying; the poplars fled,

      Thin as ghosts, on a sky blood-red;

      Out of the sky the fierce hue fell,

      And made the streams as the streams of hell.

      All his thoughts as a river flowed,

      Flowed aflame as fleet he rode,

      Onward flowed to her abode,

      Ceased at her feet, mirrored her face.

      (Viewless Death apace, apace,

      Rode behind him in that race.)

      "Face, mine own, mine alone,

      Trembling lips my lips have known,

      Birdlike stir of the dove-soft eyne

      Under the kisses that make them mine!

      Only of thee, of thee, my need!

      Only to thee, to thee, I speed!"

      The Cross flashed by at the highway's turn;

      In a beam of the moon the Face shone stern.

      Far behind had the fight's din died;

      The shuddering stars in the welkin wide

      Crowded, crowded, to see him ride.

      The beating hearts of the stars aloof

      kept time to the beat of the horse's hoof,

      "What is the throb that thrills so sweet?

      Heart of my lady, I feel it beat!"

      But his own strong pulse the fainter fell,

      Like the failing tongue of a hushing bell.

      The flank of the great-limbed steed was wet

      Not alone with the started sweat.

      Fast, and fast, and the thick black wood

      Arched its cowl like a black friar's hood;

      Fast,

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