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The black-hair'd gaunt Paulinus
By ruddy Edwin stood:--
'Bow down, O King of Deira,
Before the holy Rood!
Cast forth thy demon idols,
And worship Christ our Lord!'
--But Edwin look'd and ponder'd,
And answer'd not a word.
Again the gaunt Paulinus
To ruddy Edwin spake:
'God offers life immortal
For His dear Son's own sake!
Wilt thou not hear his message
Who bears the Keys and Sword?'
--But Edwin look'd and ponder'd,
And answer'd not a word.
Rose then a sage old warrior;
Was five-score winters old;
Whose beard from chin to girdle
Like one long snow-wreath roll'd:--
'At Yule-time in our chamber
We sit in warmth and light,
While cavern-black around us
Lies the grim mouth of Night.
'Athwart the room a sparrow
Darts from the open door:
Within the happy hearth-light
One red flash,--and no more!
We see it born from darkness,
And into darkness go:--
So is our life, King Edwin!
Ah, that it should be so!
'But if this pale Paulinus
Have somewhat more to tell;
Some news of whence and whither,
And where the Soul may dwell:--
If on that outer darkness
The sun of Hope may shine;--
He makes life worth the living!
I take his God for mine!'
So spake the wise old warrior;
And all about him cried
'Paulinus' God hath conquer'd!
And he shall he our guide:--
For he makes life worth living,
Who brings this message plain,--
When our brief days are over,
That we shall live again.'
Paulinus was one of the four missionaries sent form Rome by Gregory the
Great in 601. The marriage of Edwin, King of Northumbria, with
Ethelburga, sister to Eadbald of Kent, opened Paulinus' way to northern
England. Bede, born less than fifty years after, has given an admirable
narrative of Edwin's conversion: which is very completely told in
Bright's _Early English Church History_, B. IV.
Deira, (from old-Welsh _deifr_, waters), then comprised Eastern Yorkshire
from Tees to Humber. Goodmanham, where the meeting described was held,
is some 23 miles from York.