Page:Marmion - Walter Scott (ed. Bayne, 1889).pdf/59

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
CANTO I.
29
 On his broad shoulders wrought;465The scallop shell his cap did deck;The crucifix around his neck Was from Loretto brought;His sandals were with travel tore,Staff, budget, bottle, scrip, he wore;470The faded palm-branch in his handShow'd pilgrim from the Holy Land.
XXVIII.When as the Palmer came in hall,Nor lord, nor knight, was there more tall,Or had a statelier step withal,475 Or look'd more high and keen;For no saluting did he wait,But strode across the hall of state,And fronted Marmion where he sate, As he his peer had been.480But his gaunt frame was worn with toil;His cheek was sunk, alas the while!And when he struggled at a smile, His eye look'd haggard wild:Poor wretch! the mother that him bare,485If she had been in presence there,In his wan face, and sun-burn'd hair, She had not known her child.Danger, long travel, want, or woe,Soon change the form that best we know—490For deadly fear can time outgo, And blanch at once the hair;Hard toil can roughen form and face,And want can quench the eye's bright grace,Nor does old age a wrinkle trace495 More deeply than despair.Happy whom none of these befall,But this poor Palmer knew them all.
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.