A Forgotten Tale Poem : Songs of Action Poetry by Arthur Conan Doyle
A Forgotten Tale Poem
by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A Forgotten Tale Poem
[The scene of this ancient fight, recorded by Froissart, is still called ‘Altura de los Inglesos. ‘ Five hundred years later Wellington’s soldiers were fighting on the same ground. ]
‘Say, what saw you on the hill,
Campesino Garcia? ‘
‘I saw my brindled heifer there,
A trail of bowmen, spent and bare,
And a little man on a sorrel mare
Riding slow before them. ‘
‘Say, what saw you in the vale,
Campesino Garcia? ‘
‘There I saw my lambing ewe
And an army riding through,
Thick and brave the pennons flew
From the lances o’er them. ‘
‘Then what saw you on the hill,
Campesino Garcia? ‘
‘I saw beside the milking byre,
White with want and black with mire,
The little man with eyes afire
Marshalling his bowmen. ‘
‘Then what saw you in the vale,
Campesino Garcia? ‘
‘There I saw my bullocks twain,
And amid my uncut grain
All the hardy men of Spain
Spurring for their foemen. ‘
‘Nay, but there is more to tell,
Campesino Garcia! ‘
‘I could not bide the end to view;
I had graver things to do
Tending on the lambing ewe
Down among the clover. ‘
‘Ah, but tell me what you heard,
Campesino Garcia! ‘
‘Shouting from the mountain-side,
Shouting until eventide;
But it dwindled and it died
Ere milking time was over. ‘
‘Nay, but saw you nothing more,
Campesino Garcia? ‘
‘Yes, I saw them lying there,
The little man and sorrel mare;
And in their ranks the bowmen fair,
With their staves before them. ‘
‘And the hardy men of Spain,
Campesino Garcia? ‘
‘Hush! but we are Spanish too;
More I may not say to you:
May God’s benison, like dew,
Gently settle o’er them. ‘
Songs of Action Poetry
The Song of the Bow Poem
Cremona Poem
The Storming Party Poem
The Frontier Line Poem
Corporal Dick’s Promotion Poem
A Forgotten Tale Poem
Pennarby Mine Poem
A Rover Chanty Poem
A Ballad of the Ranks Poem
A Lay of the Links Poem
The Dying Whip Poem
Master Poem
H.M.S. ‘Foudroyant’ Poem
The Farnshire Cup Poem
The Groom’s Story Poem
With the Chiddingfolds Poem
A Hunting Morning Poem
The Old Gray Fox Poem
‘Ware Holes! Poem
The Home-Coming of the Eurydice Poem
The Inner Room Poem
The Irish Colonel Poem
The Blind Archer Poem
A Parable Poem
A Tragedy Poem
The Passing Poem
The Franklin’s Maid Poem
The Old Huntsman Poem
