Falling for Lancelot

By Gwen Knighton © 2002

A flash of thought from long ago
When I was but a maid
As I walked the heath, a cloud rose up
And I lost my way
Then he came striding through the mist
In his cloak of Elfin green
He took my hand; he led me home
I thought he had been a dream

I watched him walk back through the mist
I tied my girdle in a lover's knot
The knot tied true: I felt fate twist
I knew at ten, but soon forgot
The feeling of falling for Lancelot

The feeling of falling for,
Knew I was falling for,
Hopelessly falling for Lancelot

The sun shone bright at Camelot
My troth made me a queen
And Arthur's court the finest place
The world had ever seen
One day he came to tournament
And he bested every knight
And I recalled that misty day
And felt my heart take flight

The ladies watched him, all enthralled
The air was dense with lover's knots
We'd all have hastened if he called
The ladies whispered, hatched their plots
All of them falling for Lancelot

All of them falling for,
Knew they were falling for,
Hopelessly falling for Lancelot

Fair of face, Elfin grace,
Always seen with his Queen,
All besot, Ladies sought
The favor and fancy of Lancelot

All of them falling for,
Knew they were falling for,
Hopelessly falling for Lancelot

And in the cloister where I stay
History flickers like mist
I forget the names of kith and kin
But remember lips I've kissed
And he comes dancing through my dreams
Of a future that I dread
Where every maid keeps not her heart
But give it to him instead

I watch him in a million masks
And ladies still tie lover's knots
They lose their sense, do as he asks
They lose their hearts, and all for naught
But the flickering ideal of Lancelot

The flickering memory of,
Legend and canon of,
Aeons of Gwens and their Lancelots

All of you falling for,
Foolishly falling for,
Knowing we're falling for,
Desperately falling for,
Hopelessly falling for,
Helplessly falling for,
Finally falling for Lancelot