BUSH BALLADS AND RHYMES 



Would God I had died the death that day 

 When the Bishop blessed us before the fray 



At the shrine of the Saviour's Mother ; 

 We buckled the spur, we braced the belt, 

 Arthur and I — together we knelt, 

 And the grasp of his kingly hand I felt 



As the grasp of an only brother. 



The Body and Blood of Christ we shared, 

 Knees bended and heads bow'd down and 

 bared, 



We listened throughout the praying. 

 Eftsoon the shock of the foe we bore 

 Shoulder to shoulder on Severn's shore, 

 Till our hilts were glued to our hands with 

 gore, 



And our sinews slacken'd with slaying. 



Was I far from Thy Kingdom, gracious Lord, 



With a shattered casque and a shiver'd sword. 



On the threshold of Mary's chapel ? 



Pardie ! I had well-nigh won that crown 



Which endureth more than a knight's renown, 



When the pagan giant had got me down 



Sore spent in the deadly grapple. 

 240 



