| Sons of Imaginatius Offend Queen Glorianne; Their father casts them in a cell Where Fortus joins the clan. |
| 1. When slothful Justice slumps in his high seat, His dullard ears stone deaf to those distressed, Then human blood senses its rising heat, Fueled by each wrong that smolders unredressed; Soon flares erupt that cannot be suppressed, Consuming sufferance, judgment and all, And consequences dire, and never guessed Ensue when flames of passion grow so tall; And so Enthuzias now faces Artegall. 2. The failing sunlight hangs upon the dust Sliced by fierce, swirling blades, hungry for flesh, Which crash on helmets, shields and spears upthrust, Or find their mark and make their fatal slash; This battle is hundreds of fights, a clash Of human wills and human voices sounding Rage, terror, vicious glee, despair, anguish, As hearts race wildly to the mad drum’s pounding, Save where the slain and shattered ones lie still and mounding. 3. Prince Enri’s vipermen swarm through the breach Despite the Elven soldiers’ best efforts To hold the hissers back, and although each Defender is ten times the man he thwarts, Behind each foe, a hundred more supports; So weariness, not strength, exacts its toll, As one by one, the sword-swinging cohorts Of Glorianna grow fatigued and fall Either to crawling pikemen or to Artegall 4. Sir Artegall, the dread martial machine, Automatically swings round his blade, Sweeping the field before him dead and clean While noting not at all the hurt he’s made; He has dismounted from his frightened jade, Which plunges riderless among the fray, Screeching in fear and making all afraid Of its wild hooves, kicking this and that way; CONFUSION is the horse’s name, now left to stray. 5. Enthuzias and his lieutenant by, SINCERITUS, a soldier calm and true, Confer amid the din as missiles fly, What desperate method might deliverance do, Reverse the battle, though so very few Of their comrades persist whole and upright; Their one comfort remains the courage true Of all their band, who only leave the fight When wounded by a blow, and never in a fright. 6. I’ll cut him down! (insists Enthuzias.) But no, (Sinceritus firmly protests,) To kill him is strictly forbidden us By Glorianna, whose decree suggests That Artegall’s bewitched; Hear my requests, Enthuzias, and let me run at him, To catch him with my weapon that arrests All fight, my net so tight and trim, Called REASONING, will pin him down by every l 7. Then go in haste, (Enthuzias replies,) For every moment that we hesitate Another one of our brave soldiers dies; It will require all of my strength to wait, For both my heart and soul flame with such hate Of this mad knight, so long touted as better Than all the rest of us, who on this date Now shows himself a traitorous blood-letter; Go quickly then, my patience is the lightest fetter. 8. Sinceritus strides boldly to the line Avoiding mortal peril on all sides, Clutching his weapon, whose subtle design Protects him like a shield, and somehow guides His step so no death-dealing sword collides; He comes directly to the mad knight’s face, A face where not one tender look abides, While Artegall’s blade, sweeping clean the place, Seems destined to destroy all of the Elven race. 9. As clouds will threaten when both black and low To pound the helpless earth with knouts of rain, And yet before the first drop lands a blow The sun rips misty curtains all in twain, Pushing the tempest to another plain, So Reasoning, flung by Sinceritus, Seems certain, but in fact, threatens in vain To fall upon the maddened knight Justice And force his killing arms to rest in peacefulness. 10. For as the outspread net hangs in the air, Quick Artegall upthrusts his sword of dread, Rending the well-wrought fibers flying there, Wrapping around his blade the tortured thread, Then heaping it upon the swiveling head Of shocked Sinceritus, tangling his limbs; With his next thrust, Sinceritus is dead, His horrid wound with streaming blood o’er brims; Ensnared by mangled Reasoning, his life light dims. 11. Enthuzias erupts; Growling with rage, He is propelled to spit the killer knight Upon his lance without a pause to gauge His chances fighting such a man of might; While falling, Artegall sheds red blood bright With guilt; It intermingles as it flows With blood Sinceritus shed in their fight; This mixing makes the heat and blast that goes Into the generation of the flaming rose. 12. This blast is heard and seen in Mammon’s camp, By Fortus and his friend; It gives a pause To all upon the plain, tending to damp Fat Mammon’s courage, and is special cause For Ayez to the East, even as he draws His battle line, to wish for high instruction, As Fides to the South, peers in his book To understand his eyes’ confused construction, And even Archimag looks up and fears destruction. 13. Those vipermen not killed outright or maimed Are struck with terror at the roaring blast; They see Enthuzias has claimed Their champion; Great numbers of the rest Of them writhe bleeding, dying in the dust; Enthuzias then struggles to his feet, Bruised, shaken, but in courage still steadfast; His foes’ dismay portends his foes’ defeat, But swift assault alone makes victory complete. 14. The captain calls out, rallying his troop, And with all of their strength, they answer him, But of the number that made up the group When first the battle broached the city’s rim, Not half remain; And of that remnant, grim Wounds, gashes, shattered bones and bruises fret Each bold survivor; Prospects might be dim For their attack, but minds and hearts are set: And sure as he will lead them, they will follow yet. 15. Forward, (Enthuzias cries,) at them now! Encouraging their comrades with their cries, They pitch into the snakes, each man a plow A-harrowing his fleeing enemies; With each stroke of the sword, another dies; But once again the numbers take their toll, For Enri’s army is of such a size That fighting it exhausts the fighter’s soul; The movement stalls, reverses — back the armies roll. 16. So once again the desperate battle surges South and ever southward through the broken wall; No matter how he pushes, how he urges, Enthuzias alone cannot recall His comrades’ strength, and they seem doomed to fall; But then resounding from the city’s core Defiant trumpets crow and sergeants bawl; Fresh Elven soldiers drive northward; Once more, Imaginatius and his sons charge at the fore. 17. As hurricanes overwhelm the helpless land With pounding waves, and trounce the supine shore With wild and irresistibly strong wind, Shattering, scattering every stock and store, Here, everywhere, all one tempestuous roar, So overwhelmingly this corps attacks Its enemy; The blows begin to pour Down on the vipers; Enri’s army backs Outside the wall, wavers, quavers, finally cracks. 18. And shouting: Save yourself! Give up the game! Sarcasm, greatest coward of them all, And Ridicule, in courage much the same, Dash off, leaving their soldiery to crawl Out of harm’s way; And if they stop or stall Swordsmen of Glorianna deal them blows; So many fail, so many die and fall That many more drop pikes, and then impose Upon the humane mercies of their captor foes. 19. Enthuzias, fatigued and much the worse For many wounds, attempts despite his stress To make provision for the prisoners, The hurt and slain; Then he turns to address His father, speaking in his weariness: Can you spare men to give my men relief? A long time now they have withstood the press Of action, and both victory and grief Need rest, however tearful and however brief. 20. Episthomas, (the captain calls his son,) Relieve your brother’s battle-weary force; Integritis and Caritas, each one Return each regiment to its own source, But changing this in your accustomed course: Be sure no gaps are left, and all the walls Are fully manned; And now with great remorse, We’ll count our dead, but as each digit falls, Count fifty killed among the crew that creeps and crawls. 21. His sons turn round to act accordingly, But are stopped short; They hear an anguished call From some familiar voice; They turn to see Queen Glorianna crouched as if to crawl, Keening beside the corpse of Artegall Among the broken stones and broken lives Just where he made his last stand and his fall; Choking with rage, the woman strains and strives To tell her anger, but the word never arrives. 22. She only gestures to a smoking place Between the knight’s corpse and a jagged stone; There strange fire under-lights her struggling face, Rend’ring her beauty in a ghastly tone; Her captains see her suffering alone, And run to her to lend her their support; She cringes from their hands, movement unknown To them in all the days they’ve paid her court; She finds her voice at last, and makes angry report. 23. You have slain Artegall, Enthuzias, Against the statute that I had laid down; I order you, Imaginatius, To bind your son in chains, for by my crown, He is a traitor to his folk and town; Lock him in dungeon deep, and nevermore I’ll suffer him to serve me; Do not frown, You captains; Where I stand is soaked with gore He made, and now he must account upon this score. 24. They protest all at once: Enthuzias Breaks to the forefront of his brothers’ talk — If this man lived, (he says,) he could confess To crimes so horrible you would not balk Yourself to turn his rosy skin to chalk. My son! (then roars his father,) You must drop Your sword, and you must turn and you must walk Down to the dungeonman, where you will stop To take on chains he’ll fasten at the prison shop. 25. And you must search (he says) your headstrong heart, Recalling all the love this family bears This lady, and the central and the vital part She plays in our lives; Lady, my son wears The bloody badges of the battle’s cares, And spoke in passion, weary from the fight; I beg you to forgive him, for he errs With excess energy; He believed it right — Though clearly it was wrong — to kill this noble knight. 26. But I could cite you reasons! (eldest son Episthomas injects.) And I agree With all he’s said, (insists another one, Integritis.) And by my heart, I see His case, (cries Caritas;) He must stay free! Just at this frenzied moment, all the air Cracks and reverberates; Sound and debris Rain down on queen and quarreling soldiers there; The end of Britomart caused this, we are aware. 27. But they know nothing of sad Fortus’ fight And as they struggle to maintain their feet, Their eyes are taken at a wondrous sight: The same rocketing smoke and storming heat As had shot up at Artegall’s defeat; The first explosion’s near proximately Had been distracted by the close retreat Of Enri’s army; Now to the West they see This new explosion’s full menace and majesty. 28. The world is ending! cries Queen Glorianne, There is our confirmation, tall and stark; The angry cloud that swells in height and span, Consumes all light and radiates the dark; I cannot see it otherwise — the mark Of nothing less than our good world’s demise; What does the future hold? Now we embark Upon a sea of timelessness, where skies Are void, and markless seascapes ridicule the wise. 29. Enthuzias speaks up: Dark seas ahead? I’ll be your sailor and your beacon light. And I, says Episthomas, spite the dread, Shall teach us all to sail into the night. And though, Integritis adjoins, the fear and fright Threaten to overwhelm, yet will we hold Devotion to our queen always in sight. Then Caritas: Love lights the course we’ll keep, Though hungry night wolfs down the stars like flickering sheep. 30. Words of devotion compound my dismay, (Sighs Glorianne;) By them a love rewakes That I cannot, must never put away; Yet I will not assent when that love breaks Our rule of law; Such selfishness forsakes The city; If you brothers set aside The indignation your dissension makes, And now resume your posts, I can abide Your outbursts, though my patience has been tried. 31. How can you comprehend my double pain? For here slain Artegall summons my rage, And there raging Enthuzias makes plain He slew the knight desperate to disengage Him from the slaughter of our own; To wage A war, even reluctantly defending, Sets loose from its habitual peacetime cage Toothed savagery, both flesh and soul a-rending And suffering beyond endurance, never-ending. 32. And yet, despite all savagery and pain, Our hope for restoration of the peace Depends upon a steadfast sovereign Who must, until the grievous sufferings cease, Even as disorders and despairs increase, Adhere to order and to hopeful rule; So I reject petitions to release Your brother; His was an unsanctioned duel With Artegall; So Justice, like death, can be cruel. 33. Her speech has no effect upon the hearts Of rebel brothers, who renew their bold Defiance; As the queen departs She makes an angry signal to the old Commander, father of the these sons, one cold Quick gesture points toward the iron cell Below the central tower. We must hold Your captains there, (she says,) until they quell Their chastening chatter, whose noise locks my heart in hell. 34. Imaginatius finds no words to say; Bereft of wisdom and bereft of hope, He seizes on his impulse to obey, Tying with his own hands the heavy rope Binding one to the others; How to cope With this sudden and devastating loss Of his four captains overwhelms the scope Of his invention, so no terms can gloss The unaccustomed gloom that shades his mind across. 35. Disastrous afternoons long for their dusk, But dusk comes slowly to such afternoons, Then offers scant relief, beyond a brusk Descent to darkness, and such galling boons As nightmare sleep beneath heart-haunting moons, Then rude delivery back to the start Of yet another wolfish day, that croons With hunger for the torn and haunted heart That will not mend with rest, nor any healer’s art. 36. As skies and hearts are darkening this eve As one-time champions are wrapped in chains Before the careless darkness can relieve This day of grim reversals, griefs and pains, Among the broken stones and torn remains Of that day’s battlefield, a figure picks His way with care; The evening sunlight drains From lowly places, save one nook where bricks And bodies heap; There flames and shadows strangely mix. 37. The interloper pauses at that place And by the under-glow of that small fire Imaginatius can make out his face, A recognition that in good times prior To this might have cheered him; Upon the dire Occasion of his sons’ imprisonment His heart, weighed down by grief, can only tire At yet another bleak discouragement. He calls: Returned, Fortus, so soon after you’re sent? 38. My captain, what a battle you had here, Exclaims Fortus. Answers the chief: We won The fight, only to lose our heads, I fear; For Artegall was killed by my rash son, And when the angry Queen set out to shun Him into prison, all his brothers three Spoke rashly for him; She would stand for none Of this — so now none of my sons are free — Four prisoners where once four captains used to be. 39. He then demands: Have you found out the truth? The knights who act at Archimag’s commands, Are they or are they not our titled youth And chivalry? Our city that withstands Insult and battery at barbarous hands Must know, however long after the start Of their mistreatment by these savage bands, If their own heroes play the traitor’s part By thrusting daggers into their own city’s heart. 40. Much that I learned I wish I’d never known, The soldier answers; Much of what I’ve seen I wish I could unsee; I can’t condone The hocus-pocus that today has been Paraded in my sight, and am not keen To try my credibility with you; I’ll tell the things I learned and what they mean Reluctantly; My news offers but few Comforts; Bad news it is — but I’m convinced it’s true. 41. Upon these words he lifts up from the ground A second burning rose. He says, Look here, Imaginatius, see this bloom I found, This contradiction full of color, clear And beautiful; The burning does not sear The blossom, still we can’t deny the flame; This is the second made today, I fear; I hold its twin, for which I am to blame; I’m sure this second one’s creation was the same. 42. Where sight of one of these might well astound, A wonder that must take our breath away, Soon, soon, he says, these roses will abound Enough to make a fiery bouquet; Well you may frown at these sad words I say, Imaginatius; They’re no words of mine, But mysteries of Merlin who today Appeared to me and told me of this sign That marks the place where guilt and innocence combine. 43. Aghast, despite the terror in his heart The elder warrior rushes to his man And cries, What working of a monstrous art Is this? Roses afire! The more I scan Them with my eyes the less my thinking can Provide an explanation of this sight. One sprung where blood common and noble ran Together here at Artegall’s last fight; The other’s source perhaps the same? Am I not right? 44. Fortus responds: Yes, sir, you are correct; This first rose like this second bloomed and flamed When blood was spilled and precious lives were wrecked, Young Britomart’s among them; You have named Your son an outlaw; As I must be blamed For killing Britomart, bring chains for me, Though I will not repent nor am I shamed; I killed in passion’s rage, admittedly; From what I learned since then, killed justifiably. 45. Tell what you learned, answers a woman’s voice Out of the shadows formed by evening’s fall; What horror served to justify your choice To end a life held sacred at my call; I am your city’s ruler, above all The guardian of our mutual lives And futures; Help me understand the gall That nullifies my statutes and deprives Me of my crown as all around rebellion thrives. 46. He moans: Why must I be the messenger Of this heart-breaking news? Your majesty, The one thing you had no reason to fear Has come to pass — it was my fate to see It happen, yet as it was shown to me By visitation of old Merlin’s ghost, I thought the vision was illusory, Rendered by Archimag so he could boast Of his vile cleverness to all his murdering host. 47. And yet this vision’s truth was well confirmed By love that even now assures my mind; So hear, your majesty, hear it affirmed — The dreadful truth you sent me out to find; These are your nobles, ignobly aligned With Archimago to usurp your crown; I saw them plot, each soul freely assigned To bringing your reign and our freedoms down. At this Queen Glorianna groans and rends her gown. 48. She is the center of a universe of grief, A grief, a loss, final and absolute; Grief that rejects itself, and all belief However proven, even as the brute Emotion’s storm grows more acute; Her mind, once clear and beautiful As her fair face, reels, stunned and mute; The tempest speaks through her, and terrible The words, unmerciful the words, unbearable. 49. If I believe you, everything is done; Your word alone can’t finish everything; When we prevail and this hard battle’s won You’ll know your doubts were truer reckoning; Imaginatius, I bid you to bring This guilty man down to the tower cells To join your guilty sons sequestering In their rebellion; Likewise, Fortus dwells In an illusion wrought by Archimago’s spells. 50. I now retire to climb the tower’s height To count the pieces of my shattered heart; Tomorrow morning we’ll resume the fight Without five of them — five I set apart Consistent with what I’ve held from the start: The principle that love must yield to law, That reason trumps the wizard’s craft and art; Fortus, the picture of the knights you draw Is more image than substance, less fact than flaw. 51. The queen, having completed her lament, Turns to retreat into the moonless gloom, A double dark, dressing both firmament And heart in heavy drapery of cheerless doom. A shroud of sorrow, final as a tomb. Imaginatius says: Fortus, not far From here I‘ll lock you in a dungeon room Where there are many sons behind the bar, But not a single moon, and not one shooting star. 52. He gestures skyward where the darkened vault Seems centered on an overarching light Whose dance across the sky appears to halt To take full measure of the sorry sight Of this bleak city, suffering in the night; And Fortus knows this star; It is his own Sweet Poverist; He knows, then, this is right — Despite all bars and intervening stone, He can rely upon the faithful love she’s shown. 53. Terror and exultation wrap the heart Of Fortus in a single binding braid; He feels sure that the ending and the start Are underway as told by Merlin’s shade, And up to now the part that he has played In this vast drama was a mild prelude To shocks yet to be borne; He feels afraid, But fear must co-exist with fortitude; Absent bewilderment, there is no rectitude. 54. So joyful Fortus mourns, welcomes his dread, Submitting freely, bearing bonds and chains; Imaginatius leads him to his bed Of stone, locked deep beneath the keep where reigns Sad Glorianne, queen of her people’s pains; One last glimpse upward, where his love reposes Moves him to count his losses as his gains, For still he carries those twin mystic roses Whose flames and petals grand wondrous design discloses. 55. In time we will rejoin him and the sons He joins there in their deep imprisonment; These five are not the only desperate ones Seeking resolve to their predicament; Both in and out the city’s battlement Attackers and defenders are perplexed, And crave help to dispel befuddlement; The most troubled of all we will treat next, As seething Archimago’s rage scorches our text. Terminus Canto Sexto |
| Glorianna Table of Contents |
| The Cantos |
| Appendices |