Camelot

Since I saw the musical Camelot last night (Saturday, Dec. 12) on stage in Maryland, today's theme is--what else?--Camelot. The musical itself makes anachronistic mention of Mallory and Tennyson, who both famously wrote epics about King Arthur and his Roundtable. This post includes poems and poem excepts from other visits to ancient England.

At Camelot

Her maiden dreams were redolent of love,
Warm-bosomed as she breathed the passionate air
Of old romance, and did in fancy move
'Mong the gay knights who died for ladies fair;
Until she heard the thunder of the press,
And so became a lover; her heart rang
The note of love's alarm, his tenderness,
When in the onset all the tourney sang.
And she was one of the dead ladies who,
In beauty's blazon, to his misty bower
With Launcelot, when the Queen was gone, withdrew
Under the shadow of the tourney tower;
And, lilting to him through the gloaming, made
His heart a lyre whereon her passion played.

Robert Crawford (1868-1930)

Avalon


Upon a high-raised hill in Avalon,
Four dragon sentinels with burnished scales
Keep ward and watch, and whether the sleets and hails
Of winter beat their caves, or in May magic the lawn.
Like a dull emerald smitten with the dawn,
Up brightens, guard and gleam; and still the Grail's
Enchaliced splendors shake over those sweet dales,
Where, 'neath a thick-leaved canopy unwithdrawn
Since the old days of Vivien's sorcery,
Sleeps Merlin in a nest of nightingales--
Thus one clear moment--then the vision fails,
As his, who lone on a wreak-littered lea
Has mocking glimpse of star-mist on the sails,
Of some great ship that lies out to sea.

Robert Eliott Gonzales (1888-1916)

Not everything about Arthur and his court has to be serious--it can't all be about questing, Green Knights, nobility, and affairs. Here's a bit of ridiculousness:

When good King Arthur ruled the land,
He was a goodly king:
He stole three pecks of barley meal,
To make a bag-pudding.

A bag-pudding the king did make,
And stuffed it well with plums;
And in it put great lumps of fat,
As big as my two thumbs.

The king and queen did eat thereof,
And noblemen beside;
And what they could not eat that night,
The queen next morning fried.

--unknown

Lastly, usually the best character to play in any play or movie is the bad guy. In Camelot, of course, that's Mordred, and for me last night, the actor stole the show--even though he doesn't make his appearance until Act II (I can see this actor playing a good Iago). So today's last selection is "Mordred's Lullaby," music by Heather Dale.