WAES-HAEL for knight and dame! <br /> O merry be their dole! <br />Drink-hael! in Jesu's name <br /> We fill the tawny bowl; <br />But cover down the curving crest, <br />Mould of the Orient Lady's breast. <br /> <br />Waes-hael! yet lift no lid: <br /> Drain ye the reeds for wine. <br />Drink-hael! the milk was hid <br /> That soothed that Babe divine; <br />Hush'd, as this hollow channel flows, <br />He drew the balsam from the rose. <br /> <br />Waes-hael! thus glow'd the breast <br /> Where a God yearn'd to cling; <br />Drink-hael! so Jesu press'd <br /> Life from its mystic spring; <br />Then hush and bend in reverent sign <br />And breathe the thrilling reeds for wine. <br /> <br />Waes-hael! in shadowy scene <br /> Lo! Christmas children we: <br />Drink-hael! behold we lean <br /> At a far Mother's knee; <br />To dream that thus her bosom smiled, <br />And learn the lip of Bethlehem's Child.<br /><br />Robert Stephen Hawker<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/king-arthur-s-waes-hael/
