Chapter 18

The Blue Closet
THE DAMOZELS.

Lady Alice, lady Louise,

Between the wash of the tumbling seas

We are ready to sing, if so ye please;

So lay your long hands on the keys;

Sing, Laudate pueri.

And ever the great bell overhead

Boom’d in the wind a knell¹ for the dead,

Though no one toll’d it, a knell for the dead.
LADY LOUISE.

Sister, let the measure swell²

Not too loud; for you sing not well

If you drown the faint boom of the bell;

He is weary, so am I.

And ever the chevron³ overhead

Flapped on the banner of the dead;

(Was he asleep, or was he dead?)
LADY ALICE.

Alice the Queen, and Louise the Queen,

Two damozels wearing purple and green,

Four lone⁴ ladies dwelling⁵ here

From day to day and year to year;

And there is none to let us go;

To break the locks of the doors below,

Or shovel⁶ away the heaped-up snow;

And when we die no man will know

That we are dead; but they give us leave,

Once every year on Christmas-eve,

To sing in the Closet Blue one song;

And we should be so long, so long,

If we dared, in singing; for dream on dream,

They float on in a happy stream;

Float from the gold strings⁷, float from the keys,

Float from the open’d lips of Louise;

But, alas⁸! the sea-salt oozes⁹ through

The chinks of the tiles of the Closet Blue;

And ever the great bell overhead

Booms in the wind a knell for the dead,

The wind plays on it a knell for the dead.
They sing all together.

How long ago was it, how long ago,

He came to this tower with hands full of snow?

Kneel down, O love Louise, kneel down! he said,

And sprinkled the dusty snow over my head.

He watch’d the snow melting, it ran through my hair,

Ran over my shoulders, white shoulders and bare.

I cannot weep for thee, poor love Louise,

For my tears are all hidden deep under the seas;

In a gold and blue casket she keeps all my tears,

But my eyes are no longer blue, as in old years;

Yea, they grow grey with time, grow small and dry,

I am so feeble now, would I might die.

And in truth the great bell overhead

Left off his pealing¹⁰ for the dead,

Perchance, because the wind was dead.

Will he come back again, or is he dead?

O! is he sleeping, my scarf round his head?

Or did they strangle him as he lay there,

With the long scarlet¹¹ scarf I used to wear?

Only I pray thee, Lord, let him come here!

Both his soul and his body to me are most dear.

Dear Lord, that loves me, I wait to receive

Either body or spirit this wild Christmas-eve.

Through the floor shot up a lily red,

With a patch of earth from the land of the dead,

For he was strong in the land of the dead.

What matter that his cheeks were pale,

His kind kiss’d lips all grey?

O, love Louise, have you waited long?

O, my lord Arthur, yea.

What if his hair that brush’d her cheek

Was stiff with frozen rime¹²?

His eyes were grown quite blue again,

As in the happy time.

O, love Louise, this is the key

Of the happy golden land!

O, sisters, cross the bridge with me,

My eyes are full of sand.

What matter that I cannot see,

If ye take me by the hand?

And ever the great bell overhead,

And the tumbling seas mourned for the dead;

For their song ceased, and they were dead.

1 knell   

n.丧钟声；v.敲丧钟

参考例句：

• That is the death knell of the British Empire.这是不列颠帝国的丧钟。
• At first he thought it was a death knell.起初，他以为是死亡的丧钟敲响了。

2 swell   

vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强

参考例句：

• The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
• His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。

3 chevron   

n.V形臂章；V形图案

参考例句：

• He wore shoulderstrap rank slides with sergeant's chevrons.他佩戴标示级别的肩章，上面有中士的V形标志。
• The chevron or arrow road sign indicates a sharp bend to the left or right.V形或箭头路标表示有向左或向右的急转弯。

4 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

5 dwelling   

n.住宅，住所，寓所

参考例句：

• Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
• He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。

6 shovel   

n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出

参考例句：

• He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
• He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。

7 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

8 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

9 oozes   

v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的第三人称单数 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出

参考例句：

• The spring oozes out of a rock. 泉水从岩石中渗出。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Blood oozes from a wound. 血从伤口渗出。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 pealing   

v.（使）（钟等）鸣响，（雷等）发出隆隆声( peal的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The bell began pealing. 钟声开始鸣响了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The church bells are pealing the message of Christmas joy. 教堂的钟声洪亮地传颂着圣诞快乐的信息。 来自辞典例句

11 scarlet   

n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的

参考例句：

• The scarlet leaves of the maples contrast well with the dark green of the pines.深红的枫叶和暗绿的松树形成了明显的对比。
• The glowing clouds are growing slowly pale,scarlet,bright red,and then light red.天空的霞光渐渐地淡下去了，深红的颜色变成了绯红，绯红又变为浅红。

12 rime   

n.白霜；v.使蒙霜

参考例句：

• The field was covered with rime in the early morning.清晨地里覆盖着一层白霜。
• Coleridge contributed the famous Rime of the Ancient Mariner.柯勒律治贡献了著名的《老水手之歌》。