Iii

So Isolt watched now: long she leant From her high tower that hapless dawn: Above her bloomed the firmament, Below, the world was dewy wan. She saw a long lake where the stags Came down to drink: and woods of pines Beyond which mountains loomed, whose crags,-- Gaunt guardians of Mark's boundary lines,-- Gray watch-towers, hawk-like, overhung; And 'mid the pines, wild, ivy-clung, She saw a castle lift its old Green walls of ruin, now a cave For bandits, and a robber-hold Of lust, beside a torrent's wave. Then o'er a bridge, whose granite arched The torrent's foam, she saw a knight,-- Behind whom spear-armed followers marched,-- Like Galahad, in glittering white, Ride from the forest-covered height.