There was a studied wanderer,

A ponderer, a scholared-knight,

Who read a tale, a dozen more,

Of love and war and errant might,

He studied and examined lore,

Of maths and yore of ancient halls,

And carved with steel, with pen and song,

Such lessons long adorned in walls.

Yet came to him, in silver mists,

A duchess kissed by stars and wit,

Her eyes beheld the turning world,

Like scrolls unfurled, a garden lit,

Of beauty true, so bright in thought,

A mind that ought, not be forgot,

She laughed as though she wove the stars,

Of golden bars, the beach she wrought.

She spoke 'till late of falling leaves,

Of painted things, of sunsets red,

And tested him in measured verse,

With wit so terse, and long she said.

She turned his words like wayward streams,

Entered his dreams, by pound of time,

She found his mind a kindred thing,

Flying with wing, unbound by time.

She asked him of the shifting spheres,

Of time's arrears and burning stars,

Of kings and queens who'd lost their crowns,

Of battles drowned in iron scars.

And at every turn he matched her skill,

And climbed her will, to win her test,

She smiled and placed upon his palm

A riddle calm, a greater quest,

She bid him name the nameless winds,

The songs that spin the stars about,

And when he faltered lost in awe,

She cast no flaw, nor mocked in doubt,

She laughed instead, with precious love,

Light as a dove, who will take flight,

And left him caught in tangled thought,

Her web was wrought, of lovely light.

He stood, disarmed, in pondering grace,

For none gave chase to match him true,

Yet there she left, a mind so fierce,

With words that pierced, as arrows flew.

And so he went, with heart unbound,

He sought the ground, where blossoms bloomed,

He spun his words with silver thread,

To win and wed, to love her true.

With books and blades, with deeds and dreams.

With whispered schemes in brightest light,

He wove his vow to win her heart,

To be a part of light so bright,

Through seas he sailed, through halls he rode,

What riddles bode, to turn his run,

Until at last, his quest complete,

A thing so neat, his course had won.

She saw his stance, his scholar's art,

His guarded heart of patient steel,

And laughed with him all of the night,

And bid him fight, to love and feel.

She laughed and stole his clever tongue,

His pride undone in golden grace,

And stared as he stood smiling still,

A little thrill, upon his face.

His words he spoke, of gentleness,

Of elements, and recklessness,

And matched her every carpentry,

Of riddlery, with evidence.

A love of ink, of sword and quill,

Of sharpened skill and echoed rhyme,

Would bind them fast through days to come,

Through trials spun by passing time.

She took his hand, a challenge new,

For knowledge grew, in hearts alight,

Thus rode the pair, wandering the land,

The duchess and, her dearest knight.