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." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SYNOPSIS OF A FAILED POEM by JAMES GALVIN VENUS IN A GARDEN by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE GULF by KATHERINE MANSFIELD THE NEW APOCRYPHA: BUSINESS REVERSES by EDGAR LEE MASTERS MIDDLE-AGED; A STUDY IN EMOTION by EZRA POUND |