Looking left, right and back
Ready for the rear attack
Fan of battle tactics, read Musashi
Read Sun Tzu after
Black kimono banded by a golden sash
In my garden at dusk, imagining blossoms, slashing
At a man of straw dressed in your fashions
I am not without compassion but if I heard you’re talking trash
I rise up like a Kraken, ten times your galleon’s highest mast
Clashing rocks how I smash you
The rock and cross, the book of Matthew
My view askew because my visor moved
From flyblown stiles I chanced a good view
Of the lanes cloddy with manure, of the distance to chew
When white flag flew I flew at you, all caution eschewing
Seeming almost to zoom, a blur of motion consumed
Cogence, only the red zerg of my surcoat like a red zircon
First circuit with lance uprighted is a custom we defy and deny, mere circus
A brave knight flies only when that flight is an arrow
Whose iron eyes sight and are sated by a bite of a man’s heart
Like a dart from the blowgun of a pygmy, blown hard
I go at him hard fast, horse’s barding jangling, my own plate armour clanking
I lowered my lance and held it fast like a champion, it struck clean, I drank him
Dangling from his destrier, I thank him for this chance, sad to have vanquished him
Proceeding thence to the stiles, surmising the crowd’s delight with now upturned visor
It is the umpteenth time I have ridden and survived, I have developed style
And more importantly the comportment required to truly thrive.
Any man can drive a bay as if he never feared to die, it takes no wiles
But only a certain type can do so wide-eyed, knowing only triumph
He that will wield violence against an assailant, unto foe’s dying
He who rides so fearless that an opponent’s mettle is tried unto timidity
He who gallops longing clapping crowd loud, who no death cloud stirs over
He who feeds, exceeding the usual allowance of crows by many gallons
Who grows bolder feeling the drag to the shoulder as the lance reposes
In the killing manner, who with braced shield charges a dragon in old days
He who takes the roses of many beautiful maidens, whose soul’s cadence
Is that of rain, he is speedy as if enflamed and close to a dousing bay
Known many ladies, escaped from many casements, climbing drapery.
It is said he wields equally well axe and rapier, and never falls ill
Birds of aviary and bees of apiary seem to ape him in grace
All him lend gaze when swinging blades like blazes toward personages o’ hay
Thinks never of victory beforehand
Timing near divine, he who defies death, draws breath last, laughs longer.
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