ARTHURIAN TO THE LAST!

ARTHURIAN TO THE LAST!

Will you Return or will you be the

Glint on the water of the sword that burned

The Lady of the Lake withdrew

From all, from all of you or

it drowned itself 

and quenched not love betrayed

Nor kingdoms, yearned, unsaved

Nor happy discourse from the beginning

Doomed to fail

Oh what would they ask

If finally he returned at last

Why does it all dissolve in mist

Whenever we start to talk like this

And you and I, the same.

Its legend they say

Just thimblefuls of sighs

or breadcrumbs scattered by a child

who should grow up more worldly wise

then turn to think of what they’ll eat at noon

Or something that a colleague said

About a daughter to be wed real soon.

But speaking only for myself

If I had time and that much wealth

Id gather from four corners, more

All Arthurian scraps of lore and steep my tea most briskly

Revelng in the mystery, 

For in my dreams I see odd runes

And farther fields where there is no doom

But some recovered Elysium for them.

I ponder on the visions they had

Those knights of old

Though it is sad

Their kingdom was in any case short lived

Convivial for awhile then sandcastle

All kicked in yet I still hear them on the wind

The quest driven cry

That cannot die

Because it keeps the Soul alive.

Down to the last singed emblem:

tin soldier lead

melted to a heart instead.

mary angela douglas 19 august 2024