he four Kings had begun to move, jingling,
down the deep ravine. But when the six warriors saw their city
again, so little changed after so many years, they looked towards
her with a longing that was nearer to tears than any that their
souls had known before, crying to her:

'O Merimna, our city: Merimna, our walled city.

'How beautiful thou art with all thy spires, Merimna. For thee we
left the earth, its kingdoms and little flowers, for thee we have
come away for awhile from Paradise.

'It is very difficult to draw away from the face of God--it is
like a warm fire, it is like dear sleep, it is like a great anthem,
yet there is a stillness all about it, a stillness full of lights.

'We have left Paradise for awhile for thee, Merimna.

'Many women have we loved, Merimna, but only one city.

'Behold now all the people dream, all our loved people. How
beautiful are dreams! In dreams the dead may live, even the long
dead and the very silent. Thy lights are all sunk low, they have
all gone out, no sound is in thy streets. Hush! Thou art like a
maiden that shutteth up her eyes and is asleep, that draweth her
breath softly and is quite still, being at ease and untroubled.

'Behold now the battlements, the old battlements. Do men defend
them still as we defended them? They are worn a little, the
battlements,' and drifting nearer they peered anxiously. 'It is not
by the hand of man that they are worn, our battlements. Only the
years have done it and indomitable Time. Thy battlements are like
the girdle of a maiden, a girdle that is round about her. See now
the dew upon them, they are like a jewelled girdle.

'Thou art in great danger, Merimna, because thou art so beautiful.
Must thou perish tonight because we no more defend thee, because we
cry out and none hear us, as the bruised lilies cry out and none
have known their voices?'

Thus spake those strong-voiced, battle-ordering captains, calling to
their dear city, and their voices came no louder than the whispers
of little bats that drift across the twilight in the evening. Then
the purple guard came near, going round the ramparts for the first
time in the night, and the old warriors called to them, 'Merimna is
in danger! Already her enemies gather in the darkness.' But their
voices were never heard because they were only wandering ghosts.
And the guard went by and passed unheeding away, still singing of
Welleran.

Then said Welleran to his comrade