After reading XWing’s excellent poem, I was moved to post one of my own. I may still edit the sestet later. The poem was inspired by reading some of Camille Paglia’s books, especially Sexual Personae.
Sonnet: Speed on, my Feutred Lance
Speed on, my feutred lance, as I e’er might,
With courage fast, to broach the dragon fell
That hilleth thirst and quenched liquórous dell,
And therein set thy foin of matchless right.
From boistous wood, a troth in steel let plight,
To raise a loyal staddle o’er the well;
There drink by heritance redounding swell,
And feast the rule that wieldest thou o’er wight.
Bethink thy broken shaft, th’ o’erhasty charge:
What riseth now, whilst draineth eke thy strength?
And whitherso pleasánce’s swithe bequeath?
What fey engíne hath rent thy rampant targe?
What hath enforced? What hath down shorn thy length,
And freteth thee betwixt besheathèd teeth?
-Explanations-
speed = proceed, prosper
feutre = aim
fast = fixed, steady
broach = pierce; often used to as a term in roasting meat
fell = (as a noun) skin; (as an adjective) frightening, savage
hill = (verb) cover
liquorous = liquid
foin = thrust
boistous = turbulent
wood = wood (i.e. a forest), but also madness
troth = promise, vow
plight = pledge
loyal = legal
staddle = foundation
heritance = inheritance
redounding = overflowing
wight = being, creature
bethink = contemplate
shaft = shaft, but also ‘process’ or ‘structure’ (as Old English sceaft).
eke = also
whitherso = wherever [has gone]
pleasance = pleasure
swithe = great, beautiful
fey = accursed, doomed
