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COATS FOR THE TOURNEY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The coat I loved was firm and fine, a splendor
Last Line: And light my sword-hilt's clustered amethysts.
Subject(s): Clothing & Dress


The coat I loved was firm and fine, a splendor
Woven of myths and faiths as old as time.
I wore it as a knight
Wears shield and armor, bright
Sweeping my way where all the galleries eyed me;
Yet when I left the fight
The sun had burned its colors out; the tender
Of foemen's blades had slashed it till, beside me,
It fell in rags and dulled my sword-hilt's chime
Beating my belt's bronze buckle foul with slime.

Time heals my hurt. I am all hale, I gather
New strength and life. Once more I love the sun,
But what shall clothe me warm?
What coat shall shut the storm
Out of my breast when all the winds are round me?
I cannot patch or form
The broken threads again. I toss them, rather,
Out where the driven tempest's furies hound me;
And yet unclothed I need not think to run
The wintry highway till my dream is won.

There are new cloths and textures, strange new fashions.
They seem grotesque, and yet I long to go
On, on, with plume and lance
Tossing as I advance,
With love's fresh favor from my helmet flying.
Some tremble of romance
Must yet endure to meet my living passions.
Some web must yet be woven for the dyeing
That makes it stainless through time's pauseless flow,
Changeless, secure, whatever wild winds blow.

The coat that I shall wear! Oh, men, my brothers,
New faiths must be. I cannot ride the lists
Unbonneted, unclad,
Joyless, my heart grown mad.
Give me your gonfalon to belt about me.
Tell me what cry you had
Deep in the heart, fearing the ears of others.
Give it my lips and not the world shall rout me,
But dawn shall break a glory through the mists
And light my sword-hilt's clustered amethysts.





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