>>31338739By mountain and by winter sea,
Rode the din of shield and sword.
'Till Arthur's Table, men by men,
All fell about their lord.
Then bold Bedivere, seeing his liege,
With wound too deep to heal,
Bore the king by light of moon,
To a chapel near the field.
Then said the king, "Take now my sword,
And with what strength you can,
Into the deepest water, fling,
Excalibur, my brand."
With all the strength that he could find,
To land he knew not where,
Bedivere cast the royal blade,
In the morning twilight air.
So fell the brand Excalibur,
But then, there rose a hand.
Up from waters dark and deep,
It caught the mighty brand.
Three times it wield Excalibur
And through the air it gleamed,
Then to waters black it sank,
No more to be seen.
Behold, a dusky barge appeared,
Through shadow, moving on,
King Arthur, breathing hard, then said,
"'Tis time that I were gone."
"Place me in the barge," he said,
So to the barge they came,
Three gentle maids stretched out their hands,
And called the king by name.
"Now, I am alone, my king!"
Bedivere loudly cried.
"Wither shall I go, my king,
Now our world has died?"
There long stood Sir Bedivere
In sadness, looking on,
Until the ship was one black dot,
Against the verge of dawn.
