Rapunzel

And left me there alone,To think on what they said:'Thou art a king's own son,'Tis fit that thou should'st wed.'

When I undo the knotted mass,Fathoms below the shadows passOver my hair along the grass.O my golden hair!

I put my armour on,Thinking on what they said:'Thou art a king's own son,'Tis fit that thou should'st wed.'

See on the marble parapet,I lean my brow, strive to forgetThat fathoms below my hair grows wetWith the dew, my golden hair.

I rode throughout the town,Men did not bow the head,Though I was the king's own son:He rides to dream, they said.

See on the marble parapet,The faint red stains with tears are wet;The long years pass, no help comes yetTo free my golden hair.

For leagues and leagues I rode,Till hot my armour grew,Till underneath the leavesI felt the evening dew.

And yet: but I am growing old,For want of love my heart is cold;Years pass, the while I loose and foldThe fathoms of my hair.

I have heard tales of men, who in the nightSaw paths of stars let down to earth from heaven,Who followed them until they reach'd the lightWherein they dwell, whose sins are all forgiven;

But who went backward when they saw the gateOf diamond, nor dared to enter in;All their life long they were content to wait,Purging them patiently of every sin.

I must have had a dream of some such thing,And now am just awaking from that dream;For even in grey dawn those strange words ringThrough heart and brain, and still I see that gleam.

For in my dream at sunset-time I layBeneath these beeches, mail and helmet off,Right full of joy that I had come awayFrom court; for I was patient of the scoff

That met me always there from day to day,From any knave or coward of them all:I was content to live that wretched way;For truly till I left the council-hall,

And rode forth arm'd beneath the burning sun,My gleams of happiness were faint and few,But then I saw my real life had begun,And that I should be strong quite well I knew.

For I was riding out to look for love,Therefore the birds within the thickets sung,Even in hot noontide; as I pass'd, aboveThe elms o'ersway'd with longing towards me hung.

Now some few fathoms from the place where ILay in the beech-wood, was a tower fair,The marble corners faint against the sky;And dreamily I wonder'd what lived there:

Because it seem'd a dwelling for a queen,No belfry for the swinging of great bells.No bolt or stone had ever crush'd the greenShafts, amber and rose walls, no soot that tells

Of the Norse torches burning up the roofs,On the flower-carven marble could I see;But rather on all sides I saw the proofsOf a great loneliness that sicken'd me;

Making me feel a doubt that was not fear,Whether my whole life long had been a dream,And I should wake up soon in some place, whereThe piled-up arms of the fighting angels gleam;

Not born as yet, but going to be born,No naked baby as I was at first,But an armed knight, whom fire, hate and scornCould turn from nothing: my heart almost burst

Beneath the beeches, as I lay a-dreaming,I tried so hard to read this riddle through,To catch some golden cord that I saw gleamingLike gossamer against the autumn blue.

But while I ponder'd these things, from the woodThere came a black-hair'd woman, tall and bold,Who strode straight up to where the tower stood,And cried out shrilly words, whereon behold--

Rapunzel, Rapunzel,Let down your hair!

Ah Christ! it was no dream then, but there stood(She comes again) a maiden passing fair,Against the roof, with face turn'd to the wood,Bearing within her arms waves of her yellow hair.

I read my riddle when I saw her stand,Poor love! her face quite pale against her hair,Praying to all the leagues of empty landTo save her from the woe she suffer'd there.

To think! they trod upon her golden hairIn the witches' sabbaths; it was a delightFor these foul things, while she, with thin feet bare,Stood on the roof upon the winter night,

To plait her dear hair into many plaits,And then, while God's eye look'd upon the thing,In the very likenesses of Devil's bats,Upon the ends of her long hair to swing.

And now she stood above the parapet,And, spreading out her arms, let her hair flow,Beneath that veil her smooth white forehead setUpon the marble, more I do not know;

Because before my eyes a film of goldFloated, as now it floats. O unknown love,Would that I could thy yellow stair behold,If still thou standest the lead roof above!

Is there any who will dareTo climb up the yellow stair,Glorious Rapunzel's golden hair?

If it would please God make you sing again,I think that I might very sweetly die,My soul somehow reach heaven in joyous pain,My heavy body on the beech-nuts lie.

Now I remember what a most strange year,Most strange and awful, in the beechen woodI have pass'd now; I still have a faint fearIt is a kind of dream not understood.

I have seen no one in this wood exceptThe witch and her; have heard no human tones,But when the witches' revelry has creptBetween the very jointing of my bones.

Ah! I know now; I could not go away,But needs must stop to hear her sing that songShe always sings at dawning of the day.I am not happy here, for I am strong,

And every morning do I whet my sword,Yet Rapunzel still weeps within the tower,And still God ties me down to the green sward,Because I cannot see the gold stair floating lower.

My mother taught me prayersTo say when I had need;I have so many cares,That I can take no heedOf many words in them;But I remember this:Christ, bring me to thy bliss.Mary, maid withouten wem,Keep me! I am lone, I wis,Yet besides I have made thisBy myself: Give me a kiss,Dear God dwelling up in heaven!Also: Send me a true knight,Lord Christ, with a steel sword, bright,Broad, and trenchant; yea, and sevenSpans from hilt to point, O Lord!And let the handle of his swordBe gold on silver, Lord in heaven!Such a sword as I see gleamSometimes, when they let me dream.

Yea, besides, I have made this:Lord, give Mary a dear kiss,And let gold Michael, who looked down,When I was there, on Rouen townFrom the spire, bring me that kissOn a lily! Lord do this!

These prayers on the dreadful nights,When the witches plait my hair,And the fearfullest of sightsOn the earth and in the air,Will not let me close my eyes,I murmur often, mix'd with sighs,That my weak heart will not holdAt some things that I behold.Nay, not sighs, but quiet groans,That swell out the little bonesOf my bosom; till a tranceGod sends in middle of that dance,And I behold the countenanceOf Michael, and can feel no moreThe bitter east wind biting soreMy naked feet; can see no moreThe crayfish on the leaden floor,That mock with feeler and grim claw.

Yea, often in that happy trance,Beside the blessed countenanceOf golden Michael, on the spireGlowing all crimson in the fireOf sunset, I behold a face,Which sometime, if God give me grace,May kiss me in this very place.

It grows half way between the dark and light;Love, we have been six hours here alone:I fear that she will come before the night,And if she finds us thus we are undone.

Nay, draw a little nearer, that your breathMay touch my lips, let my cheek feel your arm;Now tell me, did you ever see a death,Or ever see a man take mortal harm?

Once came two knights and fought with swords below,And while they fought I scarce could look at all,My head swam so; after, a moaning lowDrew my eyes down; I saw against the wall

One knight lean dead, bleeding from head and breast,Yet seem'd it like a line of poppies redIn the golden twilight, as he took his rest,In the dusky time he scarcely seemed dead.

But the other, on his face, six paces off,Lay moaning, and the old familiar nameHe mutter'd through the grass, seem'd like a scoffOf some lost soul remembering his past fame.

His helm all dinted lay beside him there,The visor-bars were twisted towards the face,The crest, which was a lady very fair,Wrought wonderfully, was shifted from its place.

The shower'd mail-rings on the speedwell lay,Perhaps my eyes were dazzled with the lightThat blazed in the west, yet surely on that daySome crimson thing had changed the grass from bright

Pure green I love so. But the knight who diedLay there for days after the other went;Until one day I heard a voice that cried:Fair knight, I see Sir Robert we were sent

To carry dead or living to the king.So the knights came and bore him straight awayOn their lance truncheons, such a batter'd thing,His mother had not known him on that day,

But for his helm-crest, a gold lady fairWrought wonderfully.

Yea, love; but shall we not depart from hence?The white moon groweth golden fast, and gleamsBetween the aspens stems; I fear, and yet a sense

Of fluttering victory comes over me,That will not let me fear aright; my heart,Feel how it beats, love, strives to get to thee;I breathe so fast that my lips needs must part;

I, Sebald, also, pluck from off the staffThe crimson banner; let it lie below,Above it in the wind let grasses laugh.

Now let us go, love, down the winding stair,With fingers intertwined: ay, feel my sword!I wrought it long ago, with golden hairFlowing about the hilts, because a word,

Sung by a minstrel old, had set me dreamingOf a sweet bow'd down face with yellow hair;Betwixt green leaves I used to see it gleaming,A half smile on the lips, though lines of care

Had sunk the cheeks, and made the great eyes hollow;What other work in all the world had I,But through all turns of fate that face to follow?But wars and business kept me there to die.

O child, I should have slain my brother, too,My brother, Love, lain moaning in the grass,Had I not ridden out to look for you,When I had watch'd the gilded courtiers pass

From the golden hall. But it is strange your nameIs not the same the minstrel sung of yore;You call'd it Rapunzel, 'tis not the name.See, love, the stems shine through the open door.

O love! me and my unknown name you have well won;The witch's name was Rapunzel: eh! not so sweet?No! but is this real grass, love, that I tread upon?What call they these blue flowers that lean across my feet?

Dip down your dear face in the dewy grass, O love!And ever let the sweet slim harebells, tenderly hung,Kiss both your parted lips; and I will hang above,And try to sing that song the dreamy harper sung.

'Twixt the sunlight and the shadeFloat up memories of my maid:God, remember Guendolen!

Gold or gems she did not wear,But her yellow rippled hair,Like a veil, hid Guendolen!

'Twixt the sunlight and the shade,My rough hands so strangely made,Folded Golden Guendolen.

Hands used to grip the sword-hilt hard,Framed her face, while on the swardTears fell down from Guendolen.

Guendolen now speaks no word,Hands fold round about the sword:Now no more of Guendolen.

Only 'twixt the light and shadeFloating memories of my maidMake me pray for Guendolen.

I kiss thee, new-found name! but I will never go:Your hands need never grip the hammer'd sword again,But all my golden hair shall ever round you flow,Between the light and shade from Golden Guendolen.

I took my armour off,Put on king's robes of gold;Over the kirtle greenThe gold fell fold on fold.

Guendolen! Guendolen!One lock of hair!

I am so glad, for every dayHe kisses me much the same wayAs in the tower: under the swayOf all my golden hair.

We rode throughout the town,A gold crown on my head;Through all the gold-hung streets,Praise God! the people said.

Verily, I seem like oneWho, when day is almost done,Through a thick wood meets the sunThat blazes in her hair.

Yea, at the palace gates,Praise God! the great knights said,For Sebald the high king,And the lady's golden head.

Nothing wretched now, no screams;I was unhappy once in dreams,And even now a harsh voice seemsTo hang about my hair.