Dorigen 5

She loved her husband just as he loved her,

And no man or woman can ask for more.

Then, restless in his knighthood,

Roderick went to England for a time

To search for further challenges
In arms, adventures and good deeds.

.

His wife was left at home in Penmarch bay,

On the rocky coast of Brittany,

And her name was Dorigen.

So Dorigen was now alone.

She loved her husband more than her own life,

And wept and sighed because he was away.
While he was busy with his work
And all the duties that a knight must do,
She was left to find her way.

She lost all interest in the day to day,

And cried and pined from dawn to dusk,

Then wept the long night through as well.

So Roderick went across the sea,

To Somerset as I was told

To the city of Wells where the water springs,

Where the great cathedral stands

The mass of stone already weathering

Through autumn rains and winter winds
Which blow so cold around the great west front
On January nights.

There the old clock ticks away the days

And knights ride round and round

And joust on horseback on the hour,

And every hour the same knight falls

Throughout the measured centuries.

Higher up upon the wall,

Jack Blandiver perches in his chair,

His stiff hands arthritic ring the bell

And he kicks his heels to ring two more,

As the quarter hours go ticking by.

He tells the people praying there

That they are later than they thought.

He watches as they hurry off

And make their way through Penniless Porch

To the noisy market in the square

To begin the business of the day.

While Roderick was away from home

Not once did Dorigen smile, but spent the days

One after the other and all the same,

Moping alone at home unhappily.

Her friends all saw how much she did decay

How she grew pale and never let the light of day

Shine on her cheek or on her golden hair.
Out in the sun she would not go.

She stayed inside the four walls of her room,

And that’s no recipe for happiness,

As we all know.

Her window overlooked the sea

And she watched the ships that slowly passed

Lifting and falling in the breaking waves,

With white sails straining at the mast,
Heaving forward like a dog on a lead.

She thought of her husband constantly

And she dreamed of the ship 
That would bring him back at last.

Her friends saw how she pined away,

And did their best to help her every day.

They gathered round with busy talk and plans

To cheer her up and make her smile again.

They’d known her since they were at school.

And then she’d always been the one to help

Them in their troubles that seemed to them so big,

With books or with boyfriends,

The main concerns in their school days.

They rallied round to help her all they could

As school friends do or at the least they should ,

For friends from school are friends for good

Or should be so, I’ve always thought.

Little by little, as you know,

Men can carve and chip a stone,

Till a picture is imprinted there.

So her friends cheered Dorigen every day,

And helped her see more clearly the right way,

And little by little their pity left a print,

And her great sorrow then began to go.

Also her husband, Roderick,

Sent her letters home from England telling her

About his feats of arms and dangers passed

And of the deeds that he had there achieved.

He said that when the winter came

And the dying leaves had fallen all once more

He would be home and with her once again.

Her friends all found that she was less downcast,

And on their knees they asked her, for God’s sake,

To join them in their walks and in their play.

So they began to drive her darkest thoughts away.

They begged her then to leave her room

And not to dwell on all her woes.

And in the end she granted their request

For well she saw that it was for the best.

Her castle overlooked the sea,

Tall were the walls with towers strong

That faced the winds that blew across the waves

From the sea that stretched far to the west,

Laden with spray and salty on the tongue.

Her friends came by and made her walk with them

Along the path that followed the high cliffs.

They thought the air and sun would do her good,

Would soon bring back the flowers in her cheeks

That were so wan and pale and woebegone.

But when she saw the ships and boats

All sailing by upon the sea,

This only added to her woes.

‘Is there no ship’, she said, ‘of all these ships I see

Will bring my husband safely back to me?’

At other times she would walk there and think

And cast her eyes down from the brink,

And when she saw the black and grisly rocks,

Her poor heart shook with fear and dread.

She was so weak she could no longer stand

But limply sat upon the grass

And sadly gazed into the depths below

Where the water seethed among the stones.

Sighing, she said,

‘Eternal God, all people say

No part of your creation is in vain,

But, Lord, these black and jagged, fiendish rocks,

What purpose do they serve?

Whether south or north or west or east,

They are no help to either man or beast.

They do no good, Lord,

See’st Thou not, how they destroy mankind?

How many brave men have they drowned?

I pray these rocks be sunk in Hell for ever more

And let the ships pass by unharmed.’

Her friends saw then that all their walks,

Along the paths upon the cliffs,
Though planned to make her smile and laugh,

Only added to her grief and sorrow.

So they took her to more pleasant places,
Along the lanes outside the town,

To rivers, meadows, and the banks of streams

Where the ash and willow grew
And the dog rose flowered along the hedges.