I have partaken good and ill, 73
Have in the self-same mother's lap been laid,
The same eye gazed on us with tenderness,
And the same mother prayed prosperity
Might still be ours through life! Alas! our lot
How different!
Yet let them go with you,
I argue not--the first time in our lives, 80
If it be so, we here shall separate;
Whatever fate betide, I will not go
Till I have knelt upon my father's grave!
'Tis perilous to think, Atheling cried,
Most perilous--how 'scape the Norman's eye?
She turned, and with a solemn calmness said:
If we should perish, at the hour of death
My father will look down from heaven, and say,
Come, my poor child! oh, come where I am blessed!
My brothers, seek your safety. Here I stand 90
Resolved; and never will I leave these shores
Till I have knelt upon my father's grave!
We never will forsake thee! Godwin cried.
Let death betide, said Edmund, we will go,
Yes! go with thee, or perish!
As he spoke,
The pilot gave the signal. Then farewell!
King Malcolm cried, friends lately met, and now
To part for ever! and he kissed the cheek
Of Adela, and took brave Godwin's hand 100
And Edmund's, and then said, almost in tears,
It is not now too late! yet o'er my grave
So might a duteous daughter weep! God speed
Brave Malcolm to his father's land! they cried.
The ships beyond the promontory's point
Were anchored, and the tide was ebbing fast.
Then Ailric: Sire, not unforeseen by me 107
Was this sad day. Oh! King of Scotland, hear!
I was a brother of that holy house
Where Harold's bones are buried; from my vows
I was absolved, and followed--for I loved
His children--followed them through every fate.
My few gray hairs will soon descend in peace,
When I shall be forgotten; but till then,
My services, my last poor services,
To them I have devoted, for the sake
Of him, their father, and my king, to whom
All in this world I owed! Protect them, Lord,
And bless them, when the turf is on my head;
And, in their old age, may they sometimes think 120
Of Ailric, cold and shrouded in his grave,
When summer smiles! Sire, listen whilst I pray
One boon of t