'Tis the Night,' I Cried

i bent my head down almost to my horse's ears drove the spurs into him, and gripping my long keen spear, thundered back upon my unseen foeman with a shock that startled the browsing hinds. A mile away, we were together. The norman's spear broke into splinters athwart my body, but mine, more truly held struck him fair and full. I felt his saddle girths burst and fly. And then as my own strong haft bent like a willow wand and snapped close by my hand, that midnight rider and his visionary steed went crashing to the ground. Bitterly, i laughed as i turned my se northwards once more