The Light of Many

For a couple I know hitting a rough patch - hopefully you find your way through this all.

Betwixt blue skies and deepest hell,

Possessions stirred of a manor's hold,

Vile palace of filching southern prince,

As dominion takes custody of domain.

To northern citadel and darkest tower,

Matron's realm the only sheltered abode,

As forebear consigns to the dungeon,

Equal allotment to descendants kept distant.

Fate delivers deliverance in scorned knight,

Left his bride to walk her own harlot's path,

Damsel rescued rebukes champion advances,

Comrades stain integrity in unwelcome valley.

His armor dented, cracked and punctured,

Duty to her burdens heavily advised towards,

Sapphire eyes that carry with pride and praise,

Lion hungry for more than his culpable past.

Beyond the advice he seeks from her council,

Ghosts cloud from the precedent of his honor,

Marred soul from both virtue and his execution,

Deliverance from her dilemma a personal salvation.

With her adore tied to another waning with time,

Knight slowly growing in heart without explanation,

Moved by his station, his form and timid desires,

She takes to this knight seeing beyond the extinct.

Seasons pass from one into the next for a year,

Campaign of liberation finds them south again,

Innocent held by iron fisted and miserly queen,

False certificate used to outrage heir sine die.

New lands garden of growth and prosperity,

Even without trade for knight to garner coin,

Finance of these new lands bane of joint bliss,

Courtship now dulled to compelled interactions.

Untouched by hand shelved with gauntlets,

Dame edges between rescue and reprieve,

Conference of another knight shows path,

Beyond the ghosts of the past looming over.

Meager offerings of ardor fueling the void,

Intimacy of lore haunts into this coupling,

Distinction is blurred in sapphire reflections,

As fires of passion smolder into complacency.

Poetry penned between binds her to him truly,

Helm carried veils him of her firm devotion,

Taking to passions not of her hand or heart,

Pondering future alliance as but a fantasy.

Will his integrity once again take to her fancy,

With no need to rescue dulls the blade's edge,

Shield rarely raised except in protecting his own,

When once it shielded the fairest from the storm.

Trumpets do indeed blare this union of souls,

With darkness seeping into territory uninvited,

Where stress accentuates the inky black thick,

Distance measured in leagues under common roof.

This knight is not above rising to occasion again,

With reminder of  memories hindering his affection,

As too much will never be enough for fair lady,

Take of his heart and bound to his very soul.

Fear not the sand flowing from chamber to chamber,

Allotted only for the gauge of that beyond one's sight,

Eyes and thoughts can betray steadiest heart's beat,

As spirits hold to the cherished and loved endlessly.