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GLASTONBURY
"'Ye that have lived a dangerous life of warWhose speech has been bold words and heady boastsGather, for strife and death unknown before,Come gather all unto the fronting hosts.'
"I saw the last dim battle in the mistThere, where a dreary waste of barren sandDoth mark the ultimate leagues of this fair land;Scarce we beheld the foe we struck, or wistWhich party had advantage: like thin wraithsFit to throng Lethe banks the warriorsStruck and o'ercame, or fell, unseen, unwept;And alien hopes, lives, peoples, alien faithsWere all confounded on those desolate shores.And ever the mist seethed, and the waves keptA hollow chanting, as they mourned the endOf all mankind, and of created time.How many fell therein of foe or friendI know not, save that when the darkness cameAnd the mist cleared, I found at last the King,His armour and visage fouled with blood and slime,And fading in his eyes the ancient flame.
"I saw him make on Mordred with his spear,And crying 'Tide me death, betide me life,He shall not live, that wrought the accursed thing,'Put a dread ending to the outworn strife.I saw them fall together, and, drawn near,Knew that the King was wounded unto death.
"Then as he drew with growing pain his breathI looked, and saw a long, black barge that stoleAcross the waters, like a wandering soulReturned from the woeful realm, to viewThe ancient haunts well-loved that once it knew.And when it touched the shallows I did bearThe dying Arthur as he bade, and there

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