Wednesday, September 29, 2010

This will, um, really disappoint you...

...But the song in my head comes from a bootleg copy of a Leslie Fish riff on a Rudyard Kipling poem. Which means no crappy video of a crappier '70's song today. Sorry.

I've never figured out how to post .mp3 files here (and PLEASE don't put instructions in the comments. Oh, please. I looked up instructions, found them, and failed to understand anything that came after "It's real easy. Here's what you do..." Not a computer guy. Really.)

But I can still cut&paste a poem!

The Quest
Rudyard Kipling


The knight came home from the quest,
Muddied and sore he came.
Battered of shield and crest,
Bannerless, bruised and lame.
Fighting we take no shame,
Better is man for a fall.
Merrily borne, the bugle-horn
Answered the warder’s call:—
“Here is my lance to mend (Haro!),
Here is my horse to be shot!
Ay, they were strong, and the fight was long;
But I paid as good as I got!”

“Oh, dark and deep their van,
That mocked my battle-cry.
I could not miss my man,
But I could not carry by:
Utterly whelmed was I,
Flung under, horse and all.”
Merrily borne, the bugle-horn
Answered the warder’s call!

“My wounds are noised abroad;
But theirs my foemen cloaked.
Ye see my broken sword—
But never the blades she broke;
Paying them stroke for stroke,
Good handsel over all.”
Merrily borne, the bugle-horn
Answered the warder’s call!

“My shame ye count and know.
Ye say the quest is vain.
Ye have not seen my foe.
Ye have not told his slain.
Surely he fights again, again;
But when ye prove his line,
There shall come to your aid my broken blade
In the last, lost fight of mine!
And here is my lance to mend (Haro!),
And here is my horse to be shot!
Ay, they were strong, and the fight was long;
But I paid as good as I got!”

And if anybody's got any idea as to why I keep waking up with these offbeat damned songs in my head, I'd appreciate your giving me a clue.

2 comments:

Tracy Bruring said...

it's the 60's coming back to haunt ya

Anonymous said...

I find myself singing it when walking. It has a nice, steady beat.