Books and Cozy Chaos

Dishonorable knights

With this poem, I was playing around a bit with mixing metaphors, sort of. I liked the idea of a lady waiting for her beloved knight to come home from war. But I also wanted to explore a bit how this could be perverted in cases of misogyny or domestic abuse. But not call it out directly. This isn’t the cleanest way to do that, but I was also a college student with no experience in the situation, so take that as you will. I still think it starts getting at the bigger picture I was going for.

His Lady Fair (2003)

The table is laden with a feast

Chairs circling around, sitting tall

Waiting for the lords and ladies to arrive

She ran around the kitchen in heels too tall for walking

Hair pinned in place

Not a strand falling free

June Cleaver was only missing her pearls

Tension seized her shoulders as the front door whined

The ancient hinges announce his entrance like an off-key church bell shouting the victorious return home of men from war

He shed his armor and dropped his sword onto the floor

Kicked his boots off without a care

“Honey, I’m home”

A tight hug was gifted from his lady fair

Who had waited for this moment all day 

Like a child waits to be called to the principal’s office

Her conqueror had returned

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