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George Lewis Avery

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behold

here approacheth the gallant Lochinvar
who would seek amnesty from the fates
he speeds his panting courser
madly through the palace gates

as the clamor builds about him
he dismounts before the stairs
then ascends into the ballroom
like a nobleman with airs

resplendent in his armour
and his tunic made of mail
with its clanking and its clatter
like a loud alarum bell

past hoardes of waiting ladies
who would gladly take his sleeve
to draw him to their chambers
and disallow him further leave

past his noble attache
who from behind their facades scoff
as the phoenix burns to ashe
and the snake goes hissing off

he then bows before the dragon
soon the two begin to whirl
you ll see he s kept his gauntlets on
like any genteelman or churl

resplendent is his armour
and his tunic made of mail
with its clanking and its clatter
like a loud alarum bell

he s so off step to the music
of which the dragon doth adore
that she foregoes all form of rhetoric
and his armour tumbles loosely to the floor

then the pirouetting dancers
trample on his cindered dust
and all that remains of Lochinvar
is the question - was he ever thus

.oeg ©