{"id":2832,"date":"2020-03-09T10:26:09","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T10:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thepoetryoftonygraham.com\/?p=2832"},"modified":"2020-04-06T09:22:07","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T09:22:07","slug":"the-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thepoetryoftonygraham.com\/?p=2832","title":{"rendered":"The Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

Time for a ripping yarn, knights of old, chivalry and all that stuff.<\/em><\/h3>\n

\"TPOTG<\/p>\n

It was the feast of King Faust, the day of the joust,
\nAnd the weather was decidedly chilly.
\nThe frost on the ground made a soft crunching sound
\nUnder the hooves of Sir Lancelot\u2019s filly.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d been up with the lark, and it was still somewhat dark
\nAs he rode through Castle Camelot\u2019s gate.
\nHis earnest intent was to win the tournament,
\nSo he was determined not to be late.<\/p>\n

With sword and lance he was furnished, his armour well burnished,
\nAll polished by John, his loyal squire.
\nThey made quite a display as they set out on their way,
\nBoth dressed in their finest attire.<\/p>\n

Ahead lay a hard fight with the notorious Black Knight,
\nSir Lancelot\u2019s old formidable foe;
\nAnd as metal met metal, a score they would settle;
\nThis day down in history would go.<\/p>\n

The beautiful Guinevere, she was sure to be there,
\nWatching the contest from the grandstand.
\nAlthough they were not married, her colours he carried
\nAnd if he won he would ask for her hand.<\/p>\n

Before that could be done, there was a fight to be won,
\nThe squire had his knight to prepare;
\nWith a hand that was steady, John got Sir Lancelot ready;
\nA horse and rider to make people stare.<\/p>\n

The joust got under way shortly after mid-day,
\nThe knights on either side of the tilt.
\nAs they began to advance, lowering visor and lance,
\nThere was no time for courage to wilt.<\/p>\n

Charging now at full pace, the noise filled the place,
\nAs the crowd began to raise their voices.
\nWhere to aim for the best, at the head or the chest?
\nThe knights had to make their quick choices.<\/p>\n

First hit to the Black Knight, he got his choice right,
\nStriking Lancelot on his polished breast plate.
\nAnd with a crashing sound, he hit the hard ground,
\nPulled down by his armour\u2019s great weight.<\/p>\n

The Black Knight quickly turned, chivalry was now spurned,
\nAnd he attacked Lancelot from the rear.
\nThe crowd stopped their cheering, and now started jeering;
\nJohn shouted a warning, loud and clear.<\/p>\n

At the sound of John\u2019s voice, Lancelot made the right choice,
\nSwung around with his shield raised up high.
\nThe Black Knight\u2019s sword crashed, Lancelot\u2019s shield was smashed,
\nIt all happened in the blink of an eye.<\/p>\n

\"TPOTG<\/p>\n

The Black Knight charged again, another blow tried to rain
\nDown upon brave Sir Lancelot\u2019s head.
\nBut Lancelot\u2019s blade flashed, the attack had been dashed,
\nAnd the Black Knight lost his sword now instead.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Still mounted on horse, the Black Knight changed his course,
\nAnd galloped away for to get a new lance.
\nBut squire John, with great speed, caught Sir Lancelot\u2019s steed,
\nGiving the brave knight just one more chance.<\/p>\n

Even with his armour to straddle, he was quick in the saddle,
\nReined his horse round to face the Black Knight.
\nWith his sword now held high, he charged with a full battle cry,
\nIt made such a wondrous sight.<\/p>\n

The Black Knight stood not a chance, the sword dealt with the lance,
\nThe pole fell to the ground sliced in two.
\nGrass sods got churned, as brave Lancelot turned,
\nAnd with his sword ran the Black Knight clean through.<\/p>\n

So much blood now gushed, as the Black Knight\u2019s horse rushed
\nTowards the stone wall by the side of the Keep.
\nAt the wall the horse stopped and the Black Knight, dead, dropped
\nTo the ground, where he lay in a heap.<\/p>\n

The crowd cheered their approval at the Black Knight\u2019s removal;
\nSir Lancelot jumped down from his horse.
\nClimbing on the grandstand, he took Guinevere\u2019s hand,
\nAnd so history had taken its course.<\/p>\n

\"TOOTG<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time for a ripping yarn, knights of old, chivalry and all that stuff. It was the feast of King Faust, the day of the joust, And the weather was decidedly chilly. The frost on the ground made a soft crunching sound Under the hooves of Sir Lancelot\u2019s filly. He\u2019d been…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[142],"tags":[319,58,61,320,62,318,317,11,10,12,31,13],"class_list":["post-2832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tall-tales","tag-cameleot","tag-chivalry","tag-guinevere","tag-horses","tag-jousting","tag-knights","tag-lancelot","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-rhymes","tag-verse","tag-yesteryear"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phbx6B-JG","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thepoetryoftonygraham.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thepoetryoftonygraham.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thepoetryoftonygraham.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thepoetryoftonygraham.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thepoetryoftonygraham.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2832"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"http:\/\/www.thepoetryoftonygraham.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3315,"href":"http:\/\/www.thepoetryoftonygraham.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832\/revisions\/3315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thepoetryoftonygraham.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thepoetryoftonygraham.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thepoetryoftonygraham.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}