Up across windy wastes and up
Went Alfred over the shaws,
Shaken of the joy of giants,
The joy without a cause.

In the slopes away to the western bays,
Where blows not ever a tree,
He washed his soul in the west wind
And his body in the sea.

And he set to rhyme his ale-measures,
And he sang aloud his laws,
Because of the joy of the giants,
The joy without a cause.

The King went gathering Wessex men,
As grain out of the chaff
The few that were alive to die,
Laughing, as littered skulls that lie
After lost battles turn to the sky
An everlasting laugh.

 

– GK Chesterton, The Ballad of the White Horse

Clear Thinking Discovering Reality Hope Seeing Clearly Uncategorized GK Chesterton Hope Joy Without a Cause The Ballad of the White Horse The Joy of the Giants