Who Won? Story Poem Poem by ivor or ivor.e hogg

Although you see me as brute.
You will in time learn to love me.
This vow I take is absolute
I swear by all the gods that be.

My captive: you have captured me.
A woman of a noble race
you look at me contemptuously.
I see no fear upon your face.

Such courage I must bow before.
Your pride still makes you stand erect,
although a prisoner of war.
I hold you in highest respect.

I will treat you courteously.
though I will never let you go.
I hope that one day you will see
me as a friend not as a foe.

The lady learned that she could trust
his given word he would not break.
An honest man not ruled by lust
he wanted but he would not take.

what she was not prepared to give
and so he waited patiently.
The maid was young and so alive
that she considered carefully.

What alternatives she had.
To marry him and reign as queen
this prospect did not seem too bad
and just forget what might have been.

To take him as her chosen mate
transfer her love and loyalty.
It seemed to her decreed by fate.
She was where she was meant to be.

He was a man of noble blood
who by his actions tried to prove
his love for her as best he could.
She found it in her heart to love.

This man who’d been her enemy
but then had showed he was a friend.
Declared his love quite openly,
his hope she’d love him in the end.

Was this pure practicality
or had he really won her heart.
A question which still bothers me
Can love and life be things apart?

26-Jun-07