A Dream of England (or The Chronicles of Britannia)

A dream of England, beauteous fair, of all those who lived and died there

Part the Fifth:
Arthur and the Golden Age of Camelot

Uthur Pendragon a terror became
to the pagan Saxons he killed and he maimed.
Into old age his bravery never fleeted.
His courage alone saw the Saxons defeated.
In death he was honored on Salisbury Plain;
it was thought he died childless, but when Merlin came,
bearing with him his son, all the Nobles as one
shouted to him, “Uthur Pendragon had no son!”
“Hear me!” Merlin said, “Uthur’s son now here stands
it was told to me he would grow wise, bold and grand:
so to save him from harm he was given, when young,
to me and raised in the land of Avalon.”
The lords, though quite awed by young Arthur’s nobility,
stuck to their story with boring rigidity:
“Uthur Pendragon did not have a son!”
So Merlin, he beckoned them all and said, “Come!”
And to the cathedral he led one and all,
the short and the fat and the thin and the tall,
an amazing sight in the doorway they saw:
a large stone which had not been there before
with an inscription written on the base
and a sword which rose up embedded in its place
its hilt bright with gems; the inscription proclaimed:
“Who can draw out this sword is the king of Britain.”
One by one the noble tugged at the thing
(each one of them anxious to be the next king)
but all was in vain. Then, with no effort made,
Arthur stepped up and he removed the blade.
All the British nobles then fell to their knees
acknowledging Arthur as true king indeed.
Arthur was fifteen when he became king
and the first thing he swore that to Britain he’d bring
was freedom from Saxons. With the sword he’d won
called Excalibur and his spear called Ron
he rode at the head of his army of Knights
and twelve mighty battles did king Arthur fight;
in his armor of gold ‘gainst him no man could stand
and, at last, the Saxons were driven from the land.
Arthur would rule in an age of chivalry
but such noble ends did not come easily:
for each thought him better than his fellow knight
and, when they weren’t warring, each other they’d fight.
“How can my people be gentle and kind
when, even at table, my knights always find
an excuse to fight over how high they should be
and who should have seat top of table near me?”
King Arthur despaired but advice wise and sound
came when Merlin said, “Make a table that is round,
then all will be equal.” The kingdom grew stable
as Arthur’s were known as ‘Knights of the Round Table’.
Over thirty kingdoms they say Arthur reigned
and peace, truth and goodness his kingdom proclaimed
but Camelot’s golden age soon was no more
as, once more, there rose an age of strife and war.
Arthur and his knights were in one day killed
as mighty Saxons over valley and hill
filled the country with pain, sorrow and dread
and the green fields of England were, once more, stained red.
There are some who say Arthur did not die
and that someday he’ll return by and by
but we can believe, in far-off fighting days,
Britain had a king who taught it was brave
to be gentle and kind: virtue indeed
when chivalry was the true knights very creed.


TO BE CONTINUED…

NEXT ON “A DREAM OF ENGLAND”:
The story of Gregory and the pretty children