Poems (Hardy)/Verily
VERILY
A YOUNG knight found a gem of truth
Upon a fallow field,
And set as safeguards his bright youth
And his undinted shield.
Upon a fallow field,
And set as safeguards his bright youth
And his undinted shield.
But men denied with spear and lance
And shamed his truth to dust;
With argument and circumstance
Himself to death they thrust.
And shamed his truth to dust;
With argument and circumstance
Himself to death they thrust.
"Then died that truth?" No, no! It lives
And grows a gracious tree;
And ships that bear the fruit it gives
Sail now on every sea.
And grows a gracious tree;
And ships that bear the fruit it gives
Sail now on every sea.
"The men who slew the young knight brave
What fate, the while, have they?"
They seek, for aye, beside his grave,
The truth they tried to slay!
What fate, the while, have they?"
They seek, for aye, beside his grave,
The truth they tried to slay!