Knight in Shining Amor

There’s nothing so sweet as a woman’s touch…

At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

Like a humble knight in a foreign domain, fighting for his King and his Sanity,

I simply yearn to return to familiar shires, blue skies, fresh fruit,

and a bright-eyed bonnie lass, greeting me with open arms.

 

But I must tell myself that those aren’t my memories I’m remembering.

Simply a child’s story I’d told myself again and again, until it was etched onto my heart.

If I ever do come home from this war, scarred and starved half-to-death,

Will my lass remember my name? Will she leave her farm-boy fiancé

for the warrior who left to regain his sanity?

 

There is no celebration for the Knight’s return in peacetime.

Only a sad realization that the country he left to defend,

the nation whose heart he wished to capture,

has moved on while he was away.

 

As the sun goes down, I lay my wooden sword against the doorframe.

I remove my tin-foil breastplate and don my footy pajamas.

I lie in my bed, hold my pillow close,

and hope that in some nearby kingdom

lies a princess who still appreciates a knight in shining armor.