The Lady of the Lake.

THE LADY OF THE LAKE

And there I saw mage Merlin, whose vast wit

and hundred winters are but as the hands

of loyal vassals toiling for their liege.

And near him stood the Lady of the Lake,

who knows a subtler magic than his own -

clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful.

She gave the King his huge cross-hilted sword,

thereby to drive the heathen out: a mist

of incence curled about her, and her face

wellnigh was hidden in the minster gloom;

But there was heard among the holy hymns

a voice as of the waters, for she dwells

down in a deep; calm, whatsoever storms

may shake the world, and when the surface rolls,

hath power to walk the waters like our Lord.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92) from Idylls of the King.