Battle of Hastings Part 2 (Poem)
From The Battle of Hastings and Other Poems by Sydney Hodges.
From: 1066 C.E. To: 1066 C.E.
Location: Battle Abbey, Butter Cross, High Street, Battle, UK
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From The Battle of Hastings and Other Poems by Sydney Hodges.
Part II.
The Camp.
1.
Night on the silent forest,
Night on the silent plain;
The moon high throned in heaven,
The moonbeams on the main.
A thousand white tents gleaming.
On England's southern coast,
Where far along the seaward heights,
Encamped the Norman host.
2.
High on a hill to northward,
The Saxon legions lay;
And there with joyous revels
They wore the night away.
For flushed with recent triumph,
And dreams of conquest near,
No brow by doubt was darkened,
No bosom faint with fear.
And eager for the morrow.
Each warlike heart beat high;
And crowned with wassail and with song.
The hours flew swiftly by.
3.
Not so the Norman army.
No sound of mirth was there,
But hymns and chanted litanies
Rose softly on the air.
And holy men were gliding,
With missal cross and bead.
To hear the low confession
Of soul in ghostly need.
And valiant men by thousands,
In the still gloom of night.
Knelt at the blessed sacrament.
Ere came with day the fight.
And sturdy warriors chanted,
Or prayed on bended knees,
As soft the sacred melodies
Rose on the midnight breeze.
4.
The moon went down in glory.
Behind the western hill;
But in the clear, cold sky above,
The stars kept vigil still.
The countless hosts of heaven
They never seemed to sleep,
But, one by one, the hosts below
Sunk down in slumber deep.
Hushed were all sounds of nature—
All human sounds were still,
Save the lone watchman's measured tread.
Along the guarded hill.
5.
A hundred quivering watch-fires
Crowned every tented height;
Their red tongues told the tale of war,
Far out upon the night.
And many a startled peasant
Beheld those flames with fear,
And whispered to his wife and bahes
Of untold dangers near.
6.
Beside the central watch-fire
Two hardy Normans lay,
Who bore, deep-graved, the livid signs
Of many a bloody day:
And as their war-worn visages
Sent back the ruddy glow.
They seemed to speak of fearful things,
In muttered tones and low.
7.
The moonless sky grew darker,
The deepening night crept on;
The silvery mazes of the stars
From denser blackness shone.
And in the depths of heaven,
Where unknown wonders lie,
A comet’s pale, prophetic glare
Lit up the sable sky.
A trailing vapour far behind
The wondering guards could trace,
A million million leagues away,
In the abyss of space.
8.
More earnest grew their voices,
Still deeper every tone;
Each gazing where the comet trailed
Amid the stars alone.
"Behold" said one, "our omen
"Still brightening 'mid the gloom,
A token sure as sages say
Of Harold's coming doom.
Yet dreary tales are told by those
Escaped frown Norway's host.
Whose ships were driven yesternight
Upon the southern coast.
And many a fearful dream was dreamt,
That boded evils sore,
Before the ships of Hardrada
Set sail for England's shore.
9.
"One dreamed that off the northern coast,
The crowded vessels lay,
With glittering prows, and bending masts,
And pennons floating gay;
The sails were swelling in the breeze,
That swept the ocean green.
When lo! upon a lofty rock,
A woman pale was seen.
10.
“She counted with a reeking sword
Each gaudy, gilded prow;
And fearful was her blood red eye
Beneath her spectral brow.
And wheeling round her from above
Came savage birds of prey,
And darkened with their flapping wings
The glory of the day.
11.
“On every vessel they alit,
On mast, and sail, and shroud,
And made the boldest blood recoil
With croakings long and loud.
The woman still sat on the rock,
And shook her sword on high;
And all the while her grim, white lips
Sent forth this savage cry.
12.
"Haste, haste ye kites and ravens!
Haste, haste to flight again!
Yon island shore shall reek once more
With blood of slaughtered men.
Haste, haste to flight, the choice is right,
The feast is all your own,
A dainty feast on man and beast.
In bloody slaughter strown.'
Then counting o'er the ships again
'They all are mine,' she said,
And lifting high her bony arms.
Far up the mountain sped.
13.
"Another dream.—The army stood
Upon the English coast;
And rushing down a mighty steep,
Came on the Saxon host.
And foremost of the fiery throng,
A woman rode with speed.
Gigantic was her horrid form—
A gaunt wolf was her steed.
14.
"A gaunt wolf was her steed, and fast
He galloped on before;
Within his jaws a human corse
Dripping with crimson gore;
And ever, as he crunched the bones,
Though gorged with human food.
More mangled corses still she gave
To ease his thirst for blood.”
15.
"Now by my faith," the other said,
"It was an ugly dream;
No marvel that the northmen's blood
Swelled high old Derwent’s stream.
Comrade good night, the watch is o'er,
And sleep hangs on mine eye;
Come good or ill our lot is cast.
And we must fight or die."
16.
The purple dawn was rising
Over the eastern hill;
In the dim light the vapours white
Were creeping by the rill.
The Norman camp was stirring.
And from the guarded height,
Odo, the warrior-priest, went forth
In robe of purest white.
17.
Once more the sounds of praise and prayer
Went up the sky's broad face;
The supplications of a host
For God's especial grace.
Once more the chanted litanies
Uprose upon the air;
Once more the benediction fell
On all assembled there.
18.
The holy mass was ended,
The latest chant was o'er,
And warlike men arose from prayer,
To warlike thoughts once more.
Forth rode the princely Odo,
Athwart the dawning light.
Forth rode the bishop, lance in hand.
Upon a war-horse white.
19.
White as the noble war-horse
His sacred robe hung down;
A suit of finest mail he wore,
Beneath his spotless gown.
And as he passed along the lines,
And viewed that great array,
Far bursting through the golden clouds.
Up sprang the God of day.
Hodges, Sydney. The Battle of Hastings and Other Poems. Simpkin, Marshall and Co., 1853.
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