Ponyville & Other Poems

by AugieDog

22 - Princessence (chant royal)

Ensnare the sun as if upon a yoke
And drag its flaming plowshare through the sky.
Anticipate the storm that never broke
By knowing what's a fact and what's a lie.
Bestride the world in crown or coronet
While showing neither frown nor drop of sweat.
Accept it all—the fresh, the overplayed:
Remember, you're the whole world's palisade.
And as you strain to raise another dawn,
Embrace the warmth that can't dissolve or fade,
The strength of every pony here and gone.

The night, more gossamer than any cloak,
Harmonious, the perfect lullaby,
Depends on dreams intangible as smoke
But firm beneath the moon's slow-blinking eye:
The placid darkness, gentle, sweet, and yet
Engulfed in shadows, nightmare's oubliette.
Assure their passage lest they be betrayed
By monsters even gentle minds have made.
Recall them to themselves; if king or pawn,
You build upon the cornerstone they laid,
The strength of every pony here and gone.

Alive, they slept, and sleeping, they awoke,
But dreams of one another made them shy.
Unable to confess themselves, they spoke
With leaden words designed to stultify.
The call of love, however, must be met,
Encouraged past the bounds of etiquette,
And pushed whenever couples need your aid.
The young, the bold, the antic, and the staid
Despair at times despite their brains and brawn.
Provide the spark to cuddle unafraid,
The strength of every pony here and gone.

And me? I stumble, trip and fall and choke,
The least princessent princess! Why, oh, why
Am I the butt of this unpleasant joke,
Awash with cosmic mud as in a sty?
So my domain is friendship. Yeah, I'll bet.
For years I looked at friends more like a threat!
But that's the challenge: face a failing grade,
Or stop the whining, trying to evade
The fate of ugly duckling turned to swan.
I'll draw upon the force that stands arrayed,
The strength of every pony here and gone.

Enveloped in the power they evoke,
I'll study, ponder, contemplate, apply
My findings to my life, and stroke by stroke,
Create a portrait neat as apple pie.
A princess gives, but she cannot forget
The source of all she does, the grand duet
Uniting every strand of every braid,
The debt we bear, forever unrepaid.
Without it, we'd be pallid, stooped, and wan,
But with it, we're the finest lace brocade:
The strength of every pony here and gone.

Simplicity and elegance persuade,
Refreshing as a sip of lemonade.
We're not elite, the upper echelon;
We only flourish planted in that glade,
The strength of every pony here and gone.

Author's Note:

Another chant royal, but since this one's from Twilight instead of Rarity, it gets the more usual iambic pentameter.

Oh, and much thanks to my friend Marilyn Scott-Waters for the use of the word "princessent," an adjective she once used to describe her character in a role-playing game we were involved in years and years ago--I played her character's magical sword whom she had christened Stormbob...

Comments

[AugieDog]

As I said earlier:

I wrote most of this one off to the side while I was pounding my head against Derpy's poem...

Mike

[Corejo]

Your creativity in words never ceases to amaze. How all the pieces fit together so perfectly is breathtaking.

[AugieDog]

4912022

Thanks!

This one actually shocked me at how easily it came together. I'm just lucky so many words rhyme with "ade"...

Mike

[TheJediMasterEd]

Heh. The third verse--maybe the first three--could be summed up in something I got out of a book of toasts:

Here's to Love and Unity,
Dark corners and opportunity!

(And actually I can just about imagine Luna making that toast at Cadence and Shining Armor's reception :-) )

[AugieDog]

4916225

I can see:

Luna taking very seriously her role as Cadance's "wicked aunt"...

Mike

[sopchoppy]

The words you craft are as if bespoke
In me many moods they do invoke
Stories, countless, exist without number
But tis yours I contemplate when I slumber

[AugieDog]

4953646

Thanks!

As long as the poems don't become little gnats buzzing unpleasantly about anyone's ears, then I think they can be counted as successful.

Mike