The Revelation to the days and nights as a knight
And unto thee I bestow thy blade
Many men hath it slain
Many lives hath paid
Let not its power,
Corrupt your brain,
I beseech thee,
Go now,
Hence forth,
Take thy noble steed,
Make haste,
Tis battle broken,
With blooded taste,
Onward now join the ranks,
To settlement,
On yonder bank,
Of river pure,
In life, in death,
None can be sure.
He rode hence forth,
Along the path,
Through darkened forest,
And glades of dew,
Drawing ever nearer
Of this he knew.
“Noble horse”,
Straight and true,
Thoroughbred,
With eyes of blue,
Swiftly take me, now,
To my kinsman,
Through darkened forest,
And glades of dew,
Drawing ever nearer
Of this he knew.
Upon his steed,
His liking grew,
For the thoroughbred,
With eyes of blue
Horse and man,
Now much fonder,
Growing close to the bank,
That t’was yonder,
The light had faded,
On their journey
Now the hours of morning,
Beckoned surely.
Now upon the ridge,
Foretold,
Stood, a bold knight,
In armour of gold.
A plume of red,
Like the blood he drew
He rode down the hill
His hatred grew
The solider lay weakened and slew.
“None shall falter”
Though he knew
On thoroughbred,
With eyes of blue,
He could only,
Stay as bold,
If morale was high,
And weather cold.
There he rode,
And sliced,
And maimed,
And saved,
And slaved,
His life,
He’d gained.
With knightly spurs,
And valour high,
The battle now,
Had been won,
As the fleeing army,
Were routed,
One by one
Never need he question,
Why they’d fought,
His valuable lesson,
Had now been taught,
With glory theirs
They could retire,
Back to their castle,
To be admired.
Alone the knight
Began to cry,
No victory here,
Not for me,
Not I.
Author notes
Written 3 years ago.
Authors Comments
This poem is almost like a revelation.
It shows even If you do something all your life and it feels so right it doesn’t make it right. The knight realises in the end that he has been brought up to be honourable and valiant but he realises there is no victory in killing or death and also that there are only losers in war, it is too late by then and so he is left with his world changed to him. I might possibly do a sequel to this poem if people like it, with how the knight feels or something like that.
Please tell me what you think
Comments
-
Seeing another piece of literature on knights, one might fear another romantic depiction, but there is here the admission of what is not chivalry or glory in medieval warfare. The reader is left with the saddening aftermath of destruction, within the mind of the hero.
The word revelation has so much mystical and mythical power associated with it, yet not so much for the medieval times, so the association is a fresh one to the reader, more original on the part of the poet.
The use of archaic language sets the mood the reader the English of older times, of the novels of Sir Walter Scott and the poetry of Sir Philip Sidney. The word beseech itself is traced back to the Middle and Old English:
tr.v., -sought (-sôt') or -seeched, -seech·ing, -seech·es.
1. To address an earnest or urgent request to; implore: beseech them for help.
2. To request earnestly; beg for: beseech help. See synonyms at beg.
[Middle English bisechen, from Old English besēcan : be-, be- + sēcan, to seek; see seek.] Finding that the word itself gets 219,000 hits on google, one must conclude that the word may actually have been revived for use today in the 21st century, though not the colloquial, at least in a specialized area as a kind of historical jargon.
That there is punctuation found throughout the poem, but missing at certain lines, like "One by one" on line 78, might mean there is some minor revision needed.
The author hints in his comments about a sequel. I would encourage him to pursue one, if at least to explore the subject of healing from trauma, of recovery, of a new life after some process of forgiveness and renaissance or rebirth.
Adding your comment:
