The Three Massketeers

The Three Massketeers

The fear factor (mana - polynesian) of the sacred will always tend to preclude lucidity. Alas. Nonetheless,

the grand and beautiful, what Sam Gamgee tells his Master Frodo, is "worth fighting for," has been traded for the quick, dirty and convenient. How will we trade the eloquent for the merely expedient:

How can we hear the words of the Lady who speaks in Chesterton's Ballad of the White Horse?

"The men of the East may spell the stars,
And times and triumphs mark,
But the men signed of the cross of Christ
Go gaily in the dark.

"The men of the East may search the scrolls
For sure fates and fame,
But the men that drink the blood of God
Go singing to their shame.

"The wise men know what wicked things
Are written on the sky,
They trim sad lamps, they touch sad strings,
Hearing the heavy purple wings,
Where the forgotten seraph kings
Still plot how God shall die.

"The wise men know all evil things
Under the twisted trees,
Where the perverse in pleasure pine
And men are weary of green wine
And sick of crimson seas.

"But you and all the kind of Christ
Are ignorant and brave,
And you have wars you hardly win
And souls you hardly save.

"I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.

"Night shall be thrice night over you,
And heaven an iron cope.
Do you have joy without a cause,
Yea, faith without a hope?"