{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/arthur/art136.htm","path":"neu/arthur/art136.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/arthur/art136.htm","text":"Sacred Texts\u00a0\n Legends/Sagas\u00a0\n England\u00a0\n Index\u00a0\n Previous\u00a0\n Next\u00a0\n \n \n An Arthurian Miscellany\n THE TERRIBLE TEST \n by\n ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS\n \n \n Separate, upon the folded page\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Of myth or marvel, sad or glad,\n The test that gave the Lord to thee,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0And thee to us, O Galahad!\n \n \"Found pure in deed, and word, and thought,\"\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The creature of our dream and guess,\n The vision of the brain thou art,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The eidolon of holiness.\n \n Man with the power of the God,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Man with the weaknesses of men,\n Whose lips the Sangreal leaned to feed,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"Whose strength was the strength of ten.\"\n \n We read--and smile; no man thou wast;\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0No human pulses thine could be;\n With downcast eyes we read--and sigh;\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0So terrible is purity!\n \n O fairest legend of the years,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0With folded wings, go, silently!\n O flower of knighthood, yield your place\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0To One who comes from Galilee!\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0---\n To wounded feet that shrink and bleed,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0But press and climb the narrow way,--\n The same old way our own must step,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Forever, yesterday, to-day.\n \n For soul can be what soul hath been,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0And feet can tread where feet have trod.\n Enough, to know that once the clay\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Hath worn the features of the God.\n \n \n \n Next: Guinevere, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps [1880]","title":"Arthurian Miscellany: The Terrible Test, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps [1878]","type":"page"}