Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TEARS AND TINKLING BELLS, by MINNIE FAEGRE KNOX


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TEARS AND TINKLING BELLS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Unguarded swung the open palace gate
Last Line: "and I shall never make thee smile again."
Subject(s): Arthurian Legend; Arthur, King


Unguarded swung the open palace gate;
No lackey held the burning cresset high;
No trumpets blared. But on the air a sigh
Suspired, crushed silent with disaster's freight.
Of all the court of Arthur's high estate,
No loyal knight, no puissant lord was nigh;
Fair Guinevere, with eyes to tint the sky,
In cloistered gloom foreswore her worldly fate.

Alone,—a dwarf in motley held the walls;
Tears laced the ribands on his wooden sword.
To Arthur's ringing cry through bannered halls,
"Who waits within? Who greets the homing lord?"
"I am thy fool," clown bells clinked sad refrain,
"And I shall never make thee smile again."





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