Rides a light of chivalry, Oh young Knight Errant with sparkling eye? It is to succour a maid in woe, That thy gallant beast is hurrying so? But the young Knight Errant spoke no word, As he plied the whip and the charger spurred. The long road clattered beneath his flight, /nd he and his steed passed out of sight. Yet once again did the stranger call To the figure that fled in the evenfall, And the young Knight Errant turned his head, And faint and few were the words he said:— 'My steed is hired by the hour, And the clock is chiming from Northam tower. If I reach not the sea ere the day be done, I forfeit a shilling to H-nd-rs-n.' The stranger turned on his heel and said, 'The days of Knighthood be surely dead, For never heard I of belted lord That gained his steed with aught save sword.' Alas for the glamour of chivalry, And things that are not as they used to be! For the six-penny hour too quickly passes, And we drop to the mire from hired asses!
Choose another poem