THE LAUGHING CAVALIER

Posted by Admin on 24 July 2006, 12:00 am

Is it humour or disdain
that to his smile gives birth –
a compliment a lady paid –
or dalliance with a serving maid
of saucy mien and ample girth –
a victory in love’s campaign?
Or can it be his rapier taught
a lesson in a duel fought
with one essaying to defame
His Majesty the King’s good name –
a combat needing one parade
before the coup-de-grace was made?
A man quite conscious of his worth,
he poses there at ease, benign,
in lace-trimmed doublet superfine,
perhaps consumed with silent mirth,
with tilted hat and small goatee,
insouciant and debonair,
the essence of savoir vivre
which marked the Age of Chivalry.

‘parade’ in this context is a fencing manoeuvre.

T. C. Hudson

© T. C. Hudson.
This work may not be reproduced without prior permission of the author.

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