The King Goes to Battle
He woke in the morning and showered and shaved,
and dressed for the day in the great robes of purple
and strode through black streets,
his robes rimmed in ermine untouched by the dirt
held aloft by the boys gleaming and golden
ignoring the jester, silver bells tinkling
who danced back and forth to cheers of the crowd
and the jeers of the babies at breast.
Leading the men, all suited in red;
the ladies in blue carried bags of pink petals
they strew in the path of their men bearing rosewood
and they bowed as he passed, avoiding his eye
that was bluer and cold as the sea.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology