{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/arthur/art149.htm","path":"neu/arthur/art149.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/arthur/art149.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 LAST SLEEP OF SIR LAUNCELOT\n by\n ERNEST RHYS\n \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"Behold also this mighty champion, Launcelot, peerless of knighthood, . . . that sometime was so terrible.\"\n \n \n Still asleep, and fast asleep,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The hermit-bishop lay,\n And fell upon a great laughter\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 An hour before the day.\n \n Therewith his fellowship arose,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And asked what ailed him then?\n \"Alas!\" said he, \"such joy was mine\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As shall not be again.\n \n \"Here was Sir Launcelot with me,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And angels too, far more\n Than there be men, that heav'd him up\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To heaven's open door!\"\n \n \"Vexing of dreams, it is but dreams,\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Said Bors. The bishop said,\n \"Yet go to Launcelot's bedside!\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They go; they find him dead.\n \n Still asleep, and fast asleep,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, sweet the smile he wore!\n Sir Launcelot lay fast asleep,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To waken never more.\n \n Yes, there he lay, and smiled in sleep;\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And a sweetest savour rose:\n But greater dolour none has heard,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Than the dole within that house.\n \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\n \n Next day, the mass of requiem sung,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They lift for him his sword.\n The same bier that bare Gwenevere,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bare him to Joyous Garde.\n \n And still asleep, and fast asleep,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 His visage open laid,\n Within the quire of Joyous Garde\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sir Launcelot lies dead.\n \n \n \n \n Next: The Quest of the Grail: On The Eve, by Ernest Rhys [1905]","title":"Arthurian Miscellany: The Last Sleep of Sir Launcelot, by Ernest Rhys [1905]","type":"page"}