Deck her with these; tell her, she shines me down:
An armlet for an arm to which the Queen's
Is haggard, or a necklace for a neck
O as much fairer--as a faith once fair
Was richer than these diamonds--hers not mine -
Nay, by the mother of our Lord himself,
Or hers or mine, mine now to work my will -
She shall not have them.'

Saying which she seized,
And, thro' the casement standing wide for heat,
Flung them, and down they flash'd, and smote the stream.
Then from the smitten surface flash'd, as it were,
Diamonds to meet them, and they past away.
Then while Sir Lancelot leant, in half disdain
At love, life, all things, on the window ledge,
Close underneath his eyes, and right across
Where these had fallen, slowly past the barge
Whereon the lily maid of Astolat
Lay smiling, like a star in blackest night."


This affair of the diamonds is the chief addition to the old tale, in
which we already see the curse of lawless love, fallen upon the
jealous Queen and the long-enduring Lancelot. "This is not the first
time," said Sir Lancelot, "that ye have been displeased with me
causeless, but, madame, ever I must suffer you, but what sorrow I
endure I take no force" (that is, "I disregard").

The romance, and the poet, in his own despite, cannot but make