the rubaiyat of the billigits part twenty (translated by dame daisy kloverleaf)

i

the wee billigits flew to camelot

cos it sounded like a magical spot

they met arthur merlin and galahad

but neither guinevere nor lancelot

ii

rumors of cheating abounded

the lady of the lake sounded drownded

even excalibur was dulled by truth

bitter cold confoundingly confounded

iii

twas a medieval hank williams hurt song

wife and best friend did the king wrongly wrong

but there are two sides to every love tale

some said arthur lingered at the inn long

iv

the billigits offered to mediate

a settlement they would negotiate

avalon froze and the sky grew heavy

when they told the king he was free to date

8 thoughts on “the rubaiyat of the billigits part twenty (translated by dame daisy kloverleaf)”

  1. Leila

    Poetry partially started with riddles and runes (turned into rhymes), and these rubaiyat (meaning part twenty and the whole thing) have that mysterious allure in spades, resurrecting ancient magic in the “now” era sometimes called (by me) The Rise of the Robot times. (There are tales of humanoid-like robot things taking over the world way, way back in The Arabian Nights, so this thing is not as new as the marketers of it believe it to be.)

    Your characters today in part twenty are all fascinating and filled with great depths and ironic (unstated) commentaries on life and its problems. Bravo! More soon…

    Dale

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    • Hi Dale

      I think Arthur and Camelot will always be with us. Especially Merlin, who is a bit amoral in many of his actions. Along with “The Prince” he is the original political puppet master.

      Thank you and Thank you for the movie recommendation!

      Leila

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  2. PS
    The film stars CORNEL WILDE not Cornel West….my apologies for the typo.
    Launcelot and Guinevere is also written and directed by Cornel WILDE (not West)…
    But Cornel West is a genius literary critic, philosopher, and political activist who should be President…if he was President, I would proudly salute him on a regular basis and there wouldn’t be any LIES issuing from the White House, much less every few minutes….the things he says about Herman Melville, among many others, are genius….”Melville, the best of the white brothers….America’s greatest writer…a man who knew the score…a man who knew the definition of mercy…” etc etc…

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  5. L

    So I was chillin’ with you tube back in pandemic days tryin’ to find something good to put in my brain while resting after a hard day of writing (and probably sippin’ on something, most likely a ganja blunt and a mug of green tea).

    Came upon a movie called LANCELOT AND GUINEVERE, starring Cornel West and Jean Wallace. She looks like one of the most beautiful actresses of all time in this movie; so I could see why Cornel (Lancelot) starts looking at her sideways when his best bud (King Arthur) ain’t around. And she’s no dummy, as they say. The guy who’s interested and always around starts seeming a lot more interesting to her than the distant king who’s always hanging out with his boyfriend (platonic) Merlin instead.

    So they fall for each other. And eventually the dream comes true; they get the chance to live together (long story)…

    That’s when Cornel starts singing (metaphorically) the words to Hank Williams’ great song: “I love you baby / But you gotta understand / when the Lord made me / he made a ramblin’ man….” Guinevere realizes that Lancelot is just as big a jerk (on certain levels) as the husband she now (sort of) regrets cheating on.

    Later Lancelot changes his mind, again, about Guinevere after she gets thrown into a convent and decides SHE LIKES IT THERE and refuses to leave, even when given the chance.

    And so it goes. The moral of the story (unstated) appears to be “Happily ever after = total B.S.”

    And yet the love between them did something to both of them. Something ennobling somehow. They live apart, yet are together in spirit. (Even King Arthur realizes he was someone who probably had it coming.)

    TO BE CONTINUED

    d

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