How long did we sleep?
When we went to bed the blue and gold flag of The King
Waved triumphantly over Camelot's High Tower
When we lay down it was to the sound of harps and ladies singing
Their voices echoing gently in the Great Hall at Gilead
When sleep took us it was in the pride of our power
And the Name of our King was a word of fear
To the dark creatures in the woods beyond our Realm
We slept
Alas, it was no night of earth but of Brahma!
And while we slept the castle mouldered
The great walls slumped and foundered
Gaps appeared
And dark creatures entered, to dance their evil ritual dances
In our now befouled, once Kingly, halls
They said:
"Gahr!
Their light has gone out of the Universe now
And we will fear them no more
Under the evil moon of Ever Night
We will will rule this Realm Forever
Hail Satan!
Hail the Ever Night!"
So they blasphemed
Thinking themselves safe
But We Rise!
There is a hurry of footsteps in the street below
It is the page of The King, he who would be next knighted
On the morning of our awakening
He comes running in frantic haste
Wearing only a loin-cloth and bearing a lantern and a drawn sword
All night, all night, in lotus posture on the chapel floor
Twitchless, unblinking, his drawn sword held aloft
Better to die than to twitch
Better to die than to blink
What though strange rumors and weird cries echo in the night?
Through one whole night of earth
Though it may seem long as a Night of Brahma
He will be still
His vow of stillness unbreakable
Meditating in an agony of expected ecstasy on The Madonna
A knight must be so balanced-reckless
This night of vigil he must not twitch or blink
But what page had ever so long a vigil?
Night has flown, Dawn has come at last [1]
The dawn of creation!
A beam of light the castle tower strikes
The page runs now from room to room smiting on the doors crying
"Awake! Arise! Ye Sons of Pandu!
The enemy is come among us while ye slept!
Arise! Awake! Shall our Realm then fall uncontested?"
Oh wrath would choke me but there is no time for such emotions.
Killing Day has come and caught me all unprepared.
A knight must be always perfectly balanced-reckless.
But after this first stumble let me recover and arm at speed.
In the days that are no more
Then, oh, then
The shields of each knight had each their own star.
Brighter or dimmer according to each one's virtue.
Waxing brighter with each feat of arms and burgeoning grace.
Usually the shields were veiled
With a blue silk cloth covered
For one must not boast of one's star or it will dim
A knight must be so perfectly humble -
Sir Turiya used to say "I am so proud to be so humble" [2]
But when all assembled for battle together
Ah! When the silks were all withdrawn
Like a flowering of bright stars
A starburst from the wand of Radha
Then the host was so daunting-beautiful together
With shields so terrible-glorious
None would tarry to withstand our spears then
Stumbling a little now with rust and sleep
(A curse on the night I slept,
I should have kept vigil with the page)
But quickly now oh quickly arming
How many times have I practiced arming?
Let me be perfectly swift now.
How bitterly I begrudge the slightest stumble now
(The sword should be drawn more swiftly,
The belt cinched with one smooth motion,
If the helmet had been placed by my bed on its head
As it ought, I could have donned it faster)
But we are assembled very very quickly, on the dark lawn
Between castle and ruined wall.
Is it my imagination that the company is smaller now than of old?
Who would be missing now in our hour of greatest need?
Parsifal is here, Galahad is here. Good.
But where are Tristram and
Lancelot and Sir Nerode [3] whose shield was like a sun?
The King has arisen and comes forth from his tower
His face so beautiful
His wrath so terrible
And my doubtful reckonings are all forgot
"Would God my King" I think, "that Thou and I alone could fight
this royal battle" [4]
His face so gentle, woman-like gentle as The Madonna
His eyes like twin flames so terrible
His voice like battle-trumpets so terrible
"Clean My House!"
Huzzah We Rise!
The House of Pandu was asleep not dead.
The Kurukshetra Conch is blown on high
And here's my black charger
Where did you spend creation's night my friend,
Gamboling in the fields beyond the stars?
No matter now. To horse!
And like Job's horse he "laughs Ha ha at the trumpet"
Prancing in anticipation
He says with his neighs "it is NOT the trumpet!" [5]
(Meaning he cannot fear it)
"Clean My House!"
So bring the day of strife My Lord
A sword Daya, a red Daya [6]
Black horse and I together with my brothers
In the name of The King
Swiftly the portcullis is raised
We sally forth
And lo! Of all the shields unveiled it is the new knight's
The faithful page's, that shines the brightest.
Dawn has come with the unveiling of the shields.
A wonderful dreadful cry runs before
As the mounted knights clatter forth:
"The White! [7]
The White is coming!
Neoptolomis [8] rides in the Name of The King
Camelot comes again
Christendom comes again
The Second Coming
The Second Coming
Huzzah We Rise!"
notes:
[1] Echo of Master's chant
[2] Brother Turiyananda really used to say that :)
[3] Bramachari Nerode was an early disciple of Master who betrayed
him
[4] Line from Henry V
[5] for this and previous quote from Job see Job verse 39
[6] A pun on the verses from Tolkien "A sword day, a red day ere
the sun rises"
[7] The White is the name of the forces of good in Steven King's
Dark Tower series
[8] "New Warrior" in Greek (being the son of Achilles)