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Formal Poetry


        The Knight by Adrienne Rich

        A knight rides into the noon,
        and his helmet points to the sun,
        and a thousand splintered suns
        are the gaiety of his mail.
        The soles of his feet glitter
        and his palms flash in reply,
        and under his crackling banner
        he rides like a ship in sail.

        A knight rides into the noon,
        and only his eye is living,
        a lump of bitter jelly
        set in a metal mask,
        betraying rags and tatters
        that cling to the flesh beneath
        and wear his nerves to ribbons
        under the radiant casque.

        Who will unhorse the rider
        and free him from between
        the walls of iron, the emblems
        crushing his chest with their weight?
        Will they defeat him gently,
        or leave him hurled on the green,
        his rags and wounds till hidden
        under the great breastplate?