Rudyard Kipling, 'The Quest'

[duathir]

The Quest

The Knight came home from the quest,
Muddied and sore he came.
Battered of shield and crest,
Bannerless, bruised and lame.
In fighting we take no shame,
Wiser is man for a fall.
Merrily borne, the bugle-horn
Answered the warder's call:-

"Here is my lance to mend,
And here is my horse to be shot!
Ay, they were strong, the fight was long;
But I paid as good as I got!
Yeah, I paid as good as I got!"

"Oh, dark and deep their van,
That mocked my battle-cry.
I could not miss my man,
But I could not carry by:
Utterly whelmed was I,
Flung under, horse and all."
Merrily borne, the bugle-horn
Answered the warder's call!

"My wounds are noised abroad;
But theirs my foemen cloaked.
You see my broken sword-
But never the blades she broke;
Paying them stroke for stroke,
Good bargaining over all."
Merrily borne, the bugle-horn
Answered the warder's call!

"My shame you count and know.
You say the quest is vain.
But you have not seen my foe.
You have not counted his slain.
Surely he fights again, again;
But when you prove his line,
There will come to your aid my broken blade
In the last, lost fight of mine!

"Here is my lance to mend,
And here is my horse to be shot!
Ay, they were strong, the fight was long;
But I paid as good as I got!
Yes, I paid as good as I got!"

By Rudyard Kipling