Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CHARLEMAGNE AND QUEEN BLANCHEFLEUR, by WILLIAM STAPLETON LONG


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CHARLEMAGNE AND QUEEN BLANCHEFLEUR, by                    
First Line: King charlemagne decreed a tower
Last Line: A man's relief for his broken heart.
Subject(s): Charlemagne (742-814)


King Charlemagne decreed a tower --
High in air
For his lady fair --
To hold a clock to tell the hour
And bells with iron tongues to pour
A king's grief in iron notes
With tender tones from iron throats.

The king placed there her sepulcher --
Stiff arras gloom
About her tomb --
Silken and golden above Blanchefleur;
And candles lighted there for her
Burned each day when the clock should tell
The hours for matin and vesper bell.

The king sat bowed upon his throne --
The queen's chair
Stood empty there;
His knighthood knelt with proper groan;
The bell note merged with trumpet tone;
The city moaned like a harbor reef;
The priests intoned the monarch's grief.

Charlemagne bade the clamor cease --
Not in sound
Is solace found;
Bade priests and knighthood go in peace;
To hireling mourners gave release:
The king must find, in quiet, apart,
A man's relief for his broken heart.





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