An epic tale of fantasy, flirtation, fornication and folly.

or the weaker part of a sword's blade, from the middle directly to the point.

Engarde!

"O, My Lord,

The persuasions in your eyes

Beguile, charm and signify.

You

Prick

And do I not bleed?"

A parting of her flesh

"Ouch!

My heart smarts,

My Lord.

I thrust

You parry.

I stalk

You back away.

I taunt

You compliment my skill."

A deadly game.

"It must be

the aloneness of lust

that drives us,

My Lady.

Quenched with the milk of youth's innocence,

Intemperate, with the aged wine of wary warriors."

The Lady fences with a foil.

My Lord,

with a broadsword.

"Wisely, you distance yourself,

My heart.

To devise,

Regroup, troop, and scheme?

To hide?

Eyes wide,

With fear or avarice

Perhaps pusillanimous,

None can tell.

"Show yourself!

I am possessed of a dark power, My Lord.

You shine with pure light, My Knight.

Admit your mortal weakness!

Come,

Be bolstered by my immortal strength."

He feints.

"Foolish woman!"

Her fault.

"Fickleness of unfaithfulness."

He cuts to the quick.

"Fecklessness of infidelity.

Trust,

That will scar, Lady."

Cleaving her character asunder.

A draw?

Never!

He advances for a clean kill.

"I beg you, My Lord,

Stay you hand!

Before God

(before you)

I did promise

with most my heart.

'Till death do us part.

Only a small phrase

did I miss?"

"Always", he slices.

"Your point, My Lord."

"Yes, always, is such a long time,

sometimes, Madame."

An eternity.

"Before honor is humility."

Humility flees

Her pride won out.

Honor flies

His Lust, so strong.

"No bird soars too high,

If she soars with her own wings, My Lady."

He is a predator,

not a protector.

She is a hunter by instinct,

So she wages a war with words.

Rapier repartee.

"Lucky for you, My Lord,

It doesn't take much wisdom to slaughter and maim."

Foolishly, she plays the Nightstalker's little parlor game,

Tease-the-Beast.

Come the dawn, even these

Entertaining enticements begin to wane.

Preparing for another attack, he smiles, then

Effortlessly, he wards off the next blow with practiced ease.

"Human tenderness is simply weakness in a pretty package, My Lady."

A little assault and battery included.

He scoffs at love

Believing wholly in lust.

"When you're a man

you don't have to step forward to be conquering hero

everyone else just has to step back."

Leaving occupation up to the old generals,

My Lord musters the troops

Mounts up

Planning to pillage another village of maidens

In a faraway field

In a faraway land.

"If, My Lord plans another conquest,

Then surely, this Lady, must run from her past."

"Hold, My Lord!

Stand and fight!

I fear your leaving.

I fear your staying even more.

I don't worry about provoking the dragon within;

Because men come that way."

Touch`e.

Arrogance was the Lady's undoing

She thought herself his equal.

He gave her no quarter.

Love has many vulnerable soft spots.

She is easily breached.

And the Lady is felled with a mortal blow.

Surrendering on the field of battle

She lays down.

Shed of her armor, Honor

Stripped of weaponry, Chastity

"Naked, I need your touch to clothe me, My Lord.

Cover me, for I am cold.

I beckon you linger at my side while I die a little today."

"Locked within love's embrace

Your open mouth, I rise up to kiss

You penetrate my being

Weaving spells of total bliss."

"Panting with promises you plan not to keep

Planting seeds in the furrow of my body, without sustenance."

She arches to impale herself totally upon his flesh,

So that they are joined to the hilt.

Her body bows taunt, reaching with each fragment of endurance,

For the frenzied flight.

"Release me, My Lord,

Let me fly!"

Well matched, they struggle equally,

To wrest the last swallow from this bitter cup

The heady wine of deceit

Drunk in passion

They supped the same drop and bled each other dry

With the last heartbeat of their existence.

"You, My Lord, are the victor this day."

"And you, My Lady, are the vanquished, adulterous lover."

A Lady never more.

O 'r glaswellt glan a'r rhedyn man

(From grasses bright and bracken light)

Gyfeillon dyddan dewch,

(Come, sweet companion, come)

E ddarfu'r nawn-mae'r lloer yn llawn,

(The full moon shines, the sun declines)

Y nos yn gyflawn gewch

(We'll spend the night in fun)

"Truly the Imp of Fate

Mocks our joint defeats

For in our joining

Your seed of lust has mingled with love.

Love is the stronger device."

"Soul of eternity

Will you lay down your arms now

and let me love you

with all of me?"

"For a love could never be so strong

As that which I hold for you.

Take me

-from John F. M. Dovaston written verse, first recorded in 1825