Lord, liegeman, shaggy baron, gallant knight and paladin,
Each with a winsome lady and a wreath of storied days:
Dark Rudolph home from Holy War with Lion Richard’s praise;
Walter the Falconer, and Franz, the flower of Hesse’s men,
Who brought Elizabeth a sword torn from a Saracen;
Hellgraf with jewelled glove agleam high in his helmet’s hold,
A glove she gave a beggar once and he bought back with gold.
And so the throng came eddying in, and with the splendor went
Ripple of silver laughter and of whispered compliment.
The torches flamed and faltered, sending up white whirls of smoke,