I have wearied of grand romances Of deep sighs and swooning trances Of doting gentlemen’s advances And all manner of courtship play I am tired of love confessions And of dizzied, dazed professions And of unrestrained obsessions I grow sicker day by day
I once dreamed of adoration Went quite mad for veneration Laughing, flirting with temptation The queen in Camelot The lonely, lovely Guinevere Dainty-masked with girlish fear But when King Arthur wasn’t near Dreaming of Sir Lancelot
These days I want no noble knight Despite my seeming helpless plight I wish to set myself aright And tread upon the ground Yet here I am, pedestal-high Too close to the dazzling sky As my life keeps passing by And boys keep running round
I’ve let myself grow much too proud Drew up arrogance from the crowd Heard the cheering, bright and loud The queen in Camelot And though I had my faithful Sir Still my heart was all astir With flying fancies, all a blur For Guinevere and Lancelot
These fantasies have grown too old I’d rather let my bed grow cold For I have wearied of being told “You are mine to keep” Men have tired me to the core Left me sad and sick and sore And have turned into such a chore And I’d much rather sleep
What blasphemy for a maiden fair To toss such doting to the air To turn away without much care Though queen in Camelot But I have withered, I have tired Felt as if my brain’s been mired And find not Arthur much desired Nor dashing Lancelot
Is it so bad to want respite From endless longing, day and night? This constant charm becomes too trite With ever staler tone I only wish to rest a while Recover from incessant guile Forget the weight of lovers’ trial And simply be alone
Written 5/27/13
Inspired partly by The Mists of Avalon, The Garden of Proserpine, and The Lady of Shalott.