The Ballad of St. Barbara and other verses/"The Myth of Arthur"
"THE MYTH OF ARTHUR"
O learned man who never learned to learn,Save to deduce, by timid steps and small,From towering smoke that fire can never burnAnd from tall tales that men were never tall.Say, have you thought what manner of man it isOf whom men say "He could strike giants down"?Or what strong memories over time's abyssBore up the pomp of Camelot and the crown.And why one banner all the background fills,Beyond the pageants of so many spears,And by what witchery in the western hillsA throne stands empty for a thousand years.Who hold, unheeding this immense impact,Immortal story for a mortal sin;Lest human fable touch historic fact,Chase myths like moths, and fight them with a pin.Take comfort; rest-there needs not this ado.You shall not be a myth, I promise you.