The Knight

<title>The Knight</title>
<h1>The Knight</h1>
<pre>
The Knight rides forth in coat of mail
    Into the roar of the world.
    And here is Life: the vines in the vale
    And friend and foe, and the feast in the hall,
    And May and the maid, and the glen and the grail;
    God's flags afloat on every wall
    In a thousand streets unfurled.

    Beneath the armour of the Knight
    Behind the chain's black links
    Death crouches and thinks and thinks:
    "When will the sword's blade sharp and bright
    Forth from the scabbard spring
    And cut the network of the cloak
    Enmeshing me ring on ring--
    When will the foe's delivering stroke
    Set me free
    To dance
    And sing?"

        Rainer Maria Rilke
        (tr. Jessie Lamont)
</pre>