Princess And The Commoner Poem by Captain Cur

A Knight was in love with a Princess;
she walked with a dignified grace,
she was arrayed like a perfumed flower
threaded in gossamer lace.

He sent to her rare blossoms
that bloomed in the light of the moon
and stood in the shade of a bower
reciting at the height of the noon.

He penned for her a love song
with the passion and flavor of youth
and he brought with him a minstrel
then he sang to the tune of the flute.

The Princess was cold that evening
moved not by the flute or his song,
she retired to her father's chamber
reflecting at the foot of his throne.

The Knight was commissioned by merchants
to slay a magnificent beast,
craftsmen fashioned a necklace
made of priceless talisman teeth.

The Princess would not clasp it
so it hung on her vanities door
at night they would constantly chatter
and speak of love and of loss and of war.

The Knight rode off to battle
fighting in foreign campaigns
and returned with a Persian stallion
and offered the Princess his reins.

The Princess would not accept them
so the Knight set the stallion free
and said; 'I release and return you
to the earth and the wind and the sea.'

In an act of desperation
he laid down his armor and shield
he bent his sword to a plowshare
and gave his strength to the field.

One night on a moon trimmed evening
the Knight saw a commoner girl
she was watching him in the distance
dressed in rags and blistered by toil.

The Knight moved quickly upon her
caressing her scars and her hurt
enfolding her in his strong arms
lifting her up from the dirt.

She motioned to a lowly thatch dwelling
that was hidden by thorny brush trees
breaking with joy through the clearing
he stroked the earth and the wind and the sea.

Her hut was twined with dried flowers
that shone with the light of the moon
and her bed adorned like the bowers
from which he sang when the sun peaked at noon.

Dressing her neck the teeth chattered
and they spoke of commoner blood
with the love and the pain and the passion
unsung in the snow and the mud.