A Carolingian Sonnet Poem by John Lars Zwerenz

A CAROLINGIAN SONNET

Bright, flush faced equestrian,
Welcome the sun in your saddled stride,
And the soft, romantic strain
Which flows from the river as you ride.

My princess and my youthful, young bride,
We as Carolingian invaders take the reedy sands,
Which gleam as gold next to the flaming tide;
We shall conquer every sea as well, all the European lands.

Then we shall climb the carpeted, Persian stairs,
In effulgent, milky, Zoroastrian airs,
In chambers aglow with the balconies' fire.

Lit by the streaming, summery moon,
We shall ascend into dreaming, in the dazzling boon
Of raptures gleaming, of passion - desire!

JOHN LARS ZWERENZ