Sir Dante Lizza da Benevento - Fighter Poem - Terza Rima

Sir Dante Lizza da Benevento
fallen in Spring Crown Tourney, A.S. XXXII

(Terza Rima)

Contenders come from near and far to test
Their valor and their mettle on the field
To win a Crown or earn eternal rest.

Sir Dante Lizza signed the Lists and sealed
His fate for glory or obscurity
As through the day from fight to fight he reeled.

Virginia's swan-like love and purity
To buoy up his heart and battle arm
Were all he needed for assurety.

FitzWilliam was the first to come to harm;
Sir Guillaum's squire fell beneath the blows
That filled Drogo's fair lady with alarm.

Wilhelm of Thunderhall to battle rose;
Sir Dante squared his stance to meet the charge
And sent the Visigoth to feed the crows.

Then Eorl Gar of Loch Carron loomed large;
An aarvark with an axe should give one pause -
The Scotsman slowed Sir Dante's headlong barge.

But up he rose, in time to meet the claws
Of eagle-taloned Eowyn's Jamal
Who fell to earth to further Dante's cause.

Emboldened, Dante stode into the hall
Of Baron Dietrich, Adrianna's dear;
The Teuton knight fought bravely, till the fall.

Sir Dante then faced Grimmsson without fear;
What could Njal do no one else could do?
Alas, the Viking sent him to his bier.

Virginia plaits her hair with bitter rue
And contemplates life's oft-time cruel jest:
Not all who start the journey end the quest.

-- Mistress Philippa Llewelyn Schuyler

...is an empty vessel for the Muse.