knights

(x = space)

Story Us

Fairytale

Castles

While the reality is

The plumbing’s bad

And certain walls

Are falling

A tower remains

That the wizard uses

To live inside

While keeping magic from

The rest

We are on our own

Who dwell in stories

To learn

To plan

To find our allies

And to stack against betrayal

With what wisdom

We might gain

(maybe there is

a library

with unmolded volumes

even waiting)

And gold to find

From earth

Or from

Negotiating

Fairy folk

Outside

Who know the treasures

Of the world

And keep the access

Well

Riddles

Reminders

Priorities

Cautions

And cares

A final chapter

Next to last

Comes first

In which we learn to cast

Spells from the past and

Something new

Plus teach our dragons

To light up

The fires that we want

In better places

A battle

Maybe skirmishes

For if smart

There won’t be melee

And the knights

Find better ways

To show off

Service

While heroes

Without armor

And with blades

Of wit

Shall better solve

And save

The castle

And the day

C L Couch

Photo by FPVmat A on Unsplash

Devotion

The cult of Mary rose

Because chivalry needed an aim

And the grail was not enough

A lifestyle was needed

A reason for the knight to rise, go

After dragons every day

In every breath a reason

That became the lady

It could have been a good thing, I suppose

Maybe was

Maybe some curtailing of violence happened

But she became an object, still

Mary and all women

Something to adore, perhaps

Something to report to,

Still a thing

If women could be knights

And, who knows, they might have been

They might have taken it up with her

A real reason, real cause

Not dragons but equality

Real beasts to slay

A crusade not against western Asia

But with one’s own country

Until one’s own had real faith

In strength

And in conviction

The kind that makes sense out of armor

That gives a blade a reason

To be shined and ready

Humanity

Divinity

Belief in everything that shines

And lasts

C L Couch

The 12th and 13th centuries saw an extraordinary growth of the cult of the Virgin in Western Europe, inspired in part by the writings of theologians such as Bernard of Clairvaux. The movement found its grandest expression in the French cathedrals, often dedicated to “Our Lady”, such as Notre-Dame de Paris and Notre-Dame de Bayeux among others.^[70] Walsingham and other places of Marian pilgrimage developed large popular followings. At the height of the pilgrimage movement in the 11th and 12th centuries, hundreds of people were traveling almost constantly from one Marian shrine to the next.^[71]

70 Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters. “The Cult of the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages”. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

71 Renaissance and Reformation by William Roscoe Estep 1986 ISBN 0-8028-0050-5, page 7.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veneration_of_Mary_in_the_Catholic_Church

Joan of Arc (French: Jeanne d’Arc^[3]^[4] pronounced [ʒan daʁk]; c. 1412 – 30 May 1431),^[5] nicknamed “The Maid of Orléans” (French: La Pucelle d’Orléans), is considered a heroine of France for her role during the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years’ War, and was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint.

3 Her name was written in a variety of ways, particularly before the mid-19th century. See Pernoud and Clin, pp. 220–21. Her signature appears as “Jehanne” (see www.stjoan-center.com/Album/, parts 47 and 49; it is also noted in Pernoud and Clin).

4 In archaic form, Jehanne Darc (Pernoud Clin 1998, pp. 220–221), but also Tarc, Daly or Day (Contamine Bouzy Hélary 2012 pp. 511; 517-519).

5 An exact date of birth (6 January, without mention of the year), is uniquely indicated by Perceval de Boulainvilliers, councillor of king Charles VII, in a letter to the duke of Milan. . . .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc

after Marie d’Orléans – Eglise de Saint-Pair-sur-mer

Prokofiev – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74909310