Charles William Bailey - King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table - Part I: The Coming of Arthur - Prologue lyrics

[Spoken before the curtain.] SAGE Merlin ever served about the King, Uther, before he died: and on the night When Uther in Tintagel pa**ed away Mourning and wailing for an heir, he then With Bleys, our Merlin's master as they say, Left the still King, and pa**ing forth to breathe, Then from the castle gateway by the chasm Descending through the dismal night In which the bounds of heaven and earth were lost-- Beheld, so high upon the dreary deeps It seemed in heaven, a ship, the shape thereof A dragon winged, all from stem to stern Bright with a shining people on the decks, And gone as soon as seen. And then the two Dropt to a cove, and watched the great sea fall, Wave after wave, each mightier than the last, Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame ; And down the wave and in the flame was borne A naked babe, and rode to Merlin's feet, Who stooped and caught the babe and cried "The King! Here is an heir for Uther!" And the fringe Of that great breaker, sweeping up the strand, Lashed at the wizard as he spake the word, And all at once all round him rose in fire, And presently thereafter follow'd calm, Free sky and stars. And this same child know now Is he who reigns. For many a petty king ere Arthur came Ruled in this Isle, and ever waging war Each upon other, wasted all the land; And still from time to time the heathen host Swarm'd overseas, and harried what was left. And so there grew great tracts of wilderness Wherein the beast was ever more and more, But man was less and less, till Arthur came. For first Aurelius lived and fought and died, And after him King Uther fought and died, But either failed to make the kingdom one. And after these King Arthur, for a space, And thro' the puissance of his Table Round, Drew all their petty princedoms under him, Their King and Head, and made a realm, and reigned __________ THE MARRIAGE OF ARTHUR Leodogran, the King of Cameliard, Had one fair daughter and none other child, And she was fairest of all flesh on earth, Guinevere, and in her his one delight. And Arthur, pa**ing thence to battle, felt Travail, and throes and agonies of the life, Desiring to be joined with Guinevere; And thinking as he rode, "Her father said That there between the man and beast they die. Shall I not lift her from this land of beasts Up to my throne, and side by side with me? What happiness to reign a lonely king Vext--O ye stars that shudder over me, O earth that soundest hollow under me, Vext with waste dreams? for saving I be joined To her that is the fairest under heaven, I seem as nothing in the mighty world, And cannot will my will, nor work my work Wholly, nor make myself in mine own realm Victor and lord. But were I joined with her, Then might we live together as one life, And reigning with One will in everything Have power on this dark world to lighten it, And power on this dead world to make it live. __________ Then Arthur charged his warrior whom he loved And honoured most, Sir Lancelot, to ride forth And bring the Queen. And Lancelot pa**ed away among the flowers (For then was hotter April), and returned Among the flowers, in May, with Guinevere.