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THE KNIGHT IN DISGUISE
171
Of banter and of canter, and delight
The masks fall off for one queer instant there
And show real faces; faces full of care
And desperate longing; love that’s hot or cold;
And subtle thoughts, and countenances bold.
The masks go back. ’Tis one more joke. Laugh on!
The goodly grown-up company is gone.
The masks fall off for one queer instant there
And show real faces; faces full of care
And desperate longing; love that’s hot or cold;
And subtle thoughts, and countenances bold.
The masks go back. ’Tis one more joke. Laugh on!
The goodly grown-up company is gone.
No doubt, had he occasion to address
The brilliant court of purple-clad Queen Bess,
He would have wrought for them the best he knew
And led more loftily his actor-crew.
How coolly he misquoted. ’Twas his art—
Slave-scholar, who misquoted—from the heart.
So when we slapped his back with friendly roar
Esop awaited him without the door,—
Esop the Greek, who made dull masters laugh
With little tales of fox and dog and calf.
The brilliant court of purple-clad Queen Bess,
He would have wrought for them the best he knew
And led more loftily his actor-crew.
How coolly he misquoted. ’Twas his art—
Slave-scholar, who misquoted—from the heart.
So when we slapped his back with friendly roar
Esop awaited him without the door,—
Esop the Greek, who made dull masters laugh
With little tales of fox and dog and calf.
And be it said, amid his pranks so odd
With something nigh to chivalry he trod—
The fragile drear and driven would defend—
The little shop-girls’ knight unto the end.
Yea, he had passed, ere we could understand
The blade of Sidney glimmered in his hand.
Yea, ere we knew, Sir Philip’s sword was drawn
With valiant cut and thrust, and he was gone.
With something nigh to chivalry he trod—
The fragile drear and driven would defend—
The little shop-girls’ knight unto the end.
Yea, he had passed, ere we could understand
The blade of Sidney glimmered in his hand.
Yea, ere we knew, Sir Philip’s sword was drawn
With valiant cut and thrust, and he was gone.
171